The People We've Become
by Zephyras
Summary: At first, no one could've guessed the consequences of Uzumaki Naruto's disappearance. However, seven years later, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura are rogue ninja, Team Seven assembles once more, and they all have secrets. Naruto/Sasuke, Sakura/Lee.
1. Cherry

_"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura says as sweetly as she can, fluttering her eyelashes, "After this do you want to eat dinner wi-"_

_"No. I'm going home."_

_"Th-Then I'll go with you," Sakura says desperately, "Did you know that I'm really good at cooking-"_

_"No, thanks," the dark-haired object of her affections says._

_"Geez, Sasuke, why are you such a bastard!?" Naruto says, narrowing his sky-blue eyes at Sasuke-kun._

_"At least I'm not a moron."_

_"You fucking piec-"_

_"Alright, that's enough," Kakashi-sensei says quickly, before a fight is started,"Let's not fight. We've had a long week and I'm sure everyone wants to go home, so let's debrief fast."_

_Sakura shoots a glare at Naruto who doesn't seem to notice_

_"Naruto and Sasuke, you've grown a lot. I honesty didn't expect you to hold your own against strong opponents like Haku and Zabuza. And Sakura, you did well too; I was impressed at your chakra control."_

_Sakura beams at his praise and then glances at Sasuke-kun to see if he is impressed. He doesn't look like it. She scowls and turns her anger on Naruto who is whopping with delight and babbling something about ramen._

_"Just shut up, Naruto," she says angrily, "Why are you so loud?"_

_"Oh, Sakura-chan did that asshole hurt your feelings? Don't worry, I'll make it better!"_

_To her horror, Naruto is leaning in, lips puckered. She whacks him hard on the head, causing him to fall to the wooden floor of the bridge Team Seven stood on._

_NARUTOOO! You-You idiot!" Sakura screams, face flushed with anger, hands clenched at her sides, "Stop messing around!"_

_"One day you'll fall in love with me, Sakura-chan!" Naruto beams, not at all looking like someone who had just been punched._

_Beside him, Sasuke-kun scoffs._

_"Yeah, you better believe it asshole!" Naruto says, glaring at Sasuke-kun._

_"Don't call Sasuke-kun that!" Sakura says angrily._

_"Why not? He is an asshole!"_

_"Hey, calm down," Kakashi-sensei says, looking a little taken aback, "Why don't you all just-"_

_"-get a life? Yeah, Sasuke, why don't you?"_

_Sasuke-kun glares disdainfully at Naruto, "Idiot."_

_"Well fuck you too!"_

_"NARUTOOO!" Sakura yells, not for the first time that day, "You're so annoying! Why don't you just go away! I don't ever want to see your face here again!"_

_She never does. For the next day…Naruto disappears._

The People We've Become

Chapter One-

Haruno Sakura walks down an old dirt road. There have been rumors of a strange sickness that has taken hold of a small village of the Mist Country, and she's determined to discover its source and hopefully find a cure. It is an opportunity, she tells herself, to test her skills as a medic-nin and to do some good in the world that obviously needs it. But deep inside she knows that isn't the reason for her travels. But for now she can keep deluding herself.

It has been almost two years since she departed Konoha, and she hopes to keep it that way. The reasons for her departure are varied and she doesn't like to think on them. Avoiding them during the nighttime is hard enough without her dwelling on them by day as well.

She doesn't know exactly how long she walks, but as the sun starts to set she decides to go at a little faster pace to find a place to sleep. She can always sleep outside, however, after two years of wandering around she's found that she can usually trade her skills for a place to spend the night.

Sakura jumps from tree to tree and soon finds a village nestled in between the trees. She digs her mask out of her traveling pack and puts it on. She pulls on her hood to cover her short hair and walks slowly up into the village. She was told that the disease is confined to only one village, but she can't be sure that it isn't here too.

A few children playing in the road are the first to see her, and they stare in awe and back away slowly. Sakura knows she makes an intimidating figure; masked and hooded like she is. She walks into what looks like a small shop, and the man at the counter starts. He's a middle-aged man that looked like he's just started to lose his hair. She walks as unthreateningly as she can to the counter and bows politely.

"Excuse me, sir, do you know where I can find the town headman or woman?"

He stares at her for a few seconds and then reddens in embarrassment.

"Uh, well, Omae-sama should be…uh…here, let me show you…"

Sakura steps aside as he comes out from behind the counter, nervously glancing back over his shoulder as she follows him to the door.

"D-Do you see that inn there?" he asks.

Sakura nods.

"Omae-sama-that's his name, is usually in there. And…uh…," he looks nervously at her.

"Yes?"

"Well, may I ask you, I mean…what business do you have with him?" he says boldly.

Sakura smiles, slightly amused. So the man has more guts than she thought.

"I am a wandering doctor, I suppose you could say," she tells him, "I am going to a village south of yours said to be struck by some strange disease. However, I would like to know if I am able to stay in this village tonight by trading my skills, if you have any need of them, for a place to sleep."

"Y-You are a doctor?" he asks, surprised, "Yes, of course, I'm sure Omae-sama would…" he trails off suddenly.

Sakura frowns slightly, looking at him intently through the eyeholes of her mask.

"Well," the man starts up again, "I'm not sure whether I should say, but…there's a girl here who fell off a cliff. She miraculously survived, but she can't move anymore."

Sakura nods, "Her spine was probably broken or fractured," she says, "She would be paralyzed. I might be able to do something for her, but it really depends on how it was broken and where."

The man nods and she bows again before setting off for the inn. People whisper and point as she goes by, however Sakura has been wearing a mask ever since she left Konoha and is used to such treatment. She enters the inn and surveys it, like all good shinobi, carefully.

There is a bar at the center with an array of stools and booths surrounding it. In the far corner there is a staircase, which she assumes leads to the rooms above to bar.

The men in the bar turn to look at her suspiciously as she makes her way up to the bartender and asks as quietly as she can who 'Omae-sama' is. The bartender looks unsure of whether to answer, so instead points at a hefty man with long black hair, sitting in the middle of the bar. Sakura thanks him and makes her way to the center table aware that all eyes in the room are following her.

"You must be Omae-sama?" Sakura says politely, bowing her head.

"Who's asking?" he says, looking her up and down suspiciously.

"I am a doctor," she replies, "I was wondering whether you have any need of my skills in this village."

"What so you want in return?" Omae says shrewdly.

It's only when he says this does Sakura realize how young he is. He could only be a year or two older than she is.

"A place to sleep would be nice," she says, "And dinner."

He surveys her suspiciously and then a man to his right whispers something in his ear.

"What kind of doctor?" Omae asks and Sakura knows what he's asking.

"I use chakra if that's what you're asking," Sakura says coolly and Omae blushes.

"Well there is one…but it may be hopeless…" he suddenly looks tired.

Sakura waits patiently.

"My younger sister," he says, "Had an accident…the village doctor told us she broke her spine which means she can't move her legs or her arms."

"Paralysis," Sakura says, "I might be able to heal her, however, if it's not a clean break then it could prove to be impossible."

He nods seriously and stands. Sakura follows him out of the inn and to a small house on the edge of the village. Sakura carefully takes off her shoes and enters the house. An old woman, who must be Omae's grandmother, shrieks and has to be told that Sakura isn't some kind of demon, but is instead her to see her grandchild whose name is, unimaginatively, Kiri. Sakura follows Omae to one of the back room where a girl who is about fifteen years of age lies prostrate on a futon.

"Kiri," Omae says softly, all gruffness gone, "Someone's here to see you."

The girl on the bed turns her head slightly and Sakura can see just from looking at her that her head is probably the only thing she can move.

"Who is it?" the girl says softly.

Her voice is small and depressed and Sakura wonders what it's like not being able to move.

"I would go insane," she thinks, " I would die."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Sakura says, bowing, "I am a doctor."

"Another one?" the girl says sadly, "Onii-sama, it's useless. I'll never be able to move again."

For some reason this makes Sakura angry. However, she keeps her cool.

"How long since the accident?" Sakura asks, kneeling beside the futon.

The girl doesn't say anything.

"Kiri!" Omae says, almost angrily.

"A little more than a year," she says, not looking at Sakura

Behind the mask, Sakura winces. A year? That wasn't good.

"I'll see your back, if you please," she says.

Omae stand and gently turns his sister onto her stomach. Sakura rolls up her sleeves and pushes the girls shirt up. Omae leaves the room.

"I'm sick of this," the girl whispers, "Sick of all these doctors coming and saying the same thing over and over and over again. He still won't let it go. The only reason I still agree is for him."

Sakura doesn't know what to say, so instead she keeps silent and runs her hands carefully over the girl's spine.

"I had a friend who was in the same predicament you are," Sakura says softly, digging in her bag for some equipment, "He wasn't paralyzed, however, he couldn't do all the things he wanted to. My shishou performed an operation on him and he got better."

The ring on one of the two necklaces around her neck suddenly seems heavier for a second.

"Your spine is broken, however it isn't as bad as I thought it would be," Sakura says, "It is possible to reconnect your nerves, however…there is a high chance you wouldn't make it."

There is an awkward silence.

"That's impossible," the girl says, "Everyone else who's come said it was hopeless."

Sakura allows herself a grin behind her mask, "I can assure you that the previous doctors who looked at you weren't medic-nin."

"You're a ninja?" the girl asks.

Sakura frowns, not liking where this conversation is going. There had been to many things this day that reminded her of things she would like to forget. Broken spines, shishou, ninja.

"No," Sakura replies, "I am not."

_Not anymore._

"Do you want to take the risk that you wouldn't survive?" Sakura asks.

"Yes," the girl says without hesitation, "Gods, yes."

Sakura rises, "Excuse me a moment then."

She leaves the room and walks to find Omae sitting at a low table with his grandmother.

"It's hopeless, isn't it?" he says when she enters

"No," Sakura says, "I can perform an operation, but there is a seventy percent chance she won't survive it."

He looks up at her in surprise, but then looks down again, "No…that's too high, I can't…I can't lose her…"

"You're sister has already agreed."

"You can't be serious!" he says angrily, standing, "I won't have it!"

"You're sister wants to be able to move again," Sakura says, "And I can already say that I would rather die than be stuck in the position that she is in now."

He looks her in the eye and swallowed, "But what if she…"

"I'll do my best to insure that that doesn't happen," Sakura says, and then more gently, "This is what she wants."

Omae still looks unsure.

"Shuichi, you had to let her go at some point," the old women says, "Why not let her go with hope?"

"Obaa-sama…"

He turns and looks pleadingly at Sakura and then closes his eyes. When he opens them, all wariness is gone.

"Alright," he says, "alright."

Sakura smiles and proceeds.

Sakura never liked performing operations. They were too long and much too stressful and she'd performed more than one that ended in death. She is determined, this time, however, that she won't fail. For herself, as well as for the girl and her brother.

She works for many hours that night, rendering the whole 'trade skills for a bed' idea quite useless. But then again, it didn't matter that much. There were many nights that she hadn't slept both inside and outside Konoha ever since Sasuke left. She became a workaholic, because work keeps her mind off things she wants to forget and Sakura likes the fulfillment of completing a job. She likes healing and helping people, because she can forget her own unhappiness, just for a second, when she sees their happy faces.

Sakura is exhausted when she finally exits the room. She's very close to taking a soldier pill, even though she detests them.

"How did it go?" Omae asks, desperately, surprisingly awake for a person who has been sitting outside a door for eight hours.

Sakura smiles, even though she knows he can't see it behind the mask, "She's going to be okay," she says tiredly.

Omae stares at her for a few seconds and suddenly she's being hugged harder than she's ever been in her life. She's dazed and can only just hear him sobbing out his thanks.

The rest of the night goes by in a blur. She barely tells Omae about the physical therapy exercises his sister will have to go through before she will be able to walk normally before suddenly the house is full of happy, crying people and Sakura is so tired and feels so out of place. By the time it's morning, Kiri is awake and everyone is sobbing in relief and yelling and screaming until they are blue in the face.

Omae's grandmother shows her to an empty room upstairs and when she leaves, Sakura locks the door and begins to undress, ignoring the people below. She pulls off her cloak, revealing a loose, long-sleeved shirt and the standard tight pants of a shinobi. She pulls off her shirt and begins unwrapping the tight bandages that are wrapped around her torso. After seven years of being a ninja she's found that breasts only get in the way and the easiest way of dealing with them is by wrapping them away. Being pretty and feminine was something she cared about when she was a child and at nineteen years of age, she's neither considered a child by herself nor by society. The last thing she takes off is her mask and she stands stark naked in front of a long mirror that leans against one of the four walls. She pulls a small yellow bottle out of her bag, opens it, and pours a small amount of the clear liquid inside onto her right palm.

She starts with her face. She dips her index finger on her left hand into the liquid and braces herself as she traces the scar which starts at her forehead, goes across her nose and down the her cheek, coating it with the clear solution. It hurts a bit; it always did, but it's always worth it.

_I won't forget._

She dips her finger in again and coats the next scar. This one starts just below her left eye. It curves down her cheek, down her neck and chest, between her breasts, and curls around the left side of her waist. That is the longest one.

_This is so I'll always remember._

The next one is much shorter. It starts in the middle of her back and goes straight down her left leg, stopping just before her knee.

_I decided…_

The one after that is even shorter. It goes from the left to right side of her stomach, nicking her navel.

_…that I'd keep doing this…_

A long one, starting at her left shoulder blade, going down to her right thigh.

_…forever, so that…_

A deep, but tiny one, just above her left breast.

_…I'll never, ever…_

Six short ones; four on her right arm, two on her left.

_…forget you…_

Three intersecting long ones, carved into her back. These are the most painful, for they were the first.

…_and these scars you gave me…_

And the last two; one entwining down her left leg, down to her ankle, and the other spanning her right calf.

…_Tsunade-shishou._

A few days later Sakura departs from the village fully rested and well fed. She keeps going south, though at a slightly faster pace than before, the words of Omae ringing in her ears.

"_Where are you going now?" he asks, as she is about to leave._

"_South," she says._

_He looks so relived that Sakura asks him why._

_"There's been strange things going on in the Northwest," he says, looking uncomfortable, "Not in this country, but on the mainland, it could be just rumors, but…just be careful." _

As she goes further into the country she realizes that she doesn't like these murky forests much. She'll be glad to leave this country of trees, mountains, and fog. The sooner she finds that village the better. She is 50 kilometers away when fate decides that she isn't meant to go any further.

When Sakura first sees them, they are merely two figures in the distance walking north on the path. She dons her mask and her hood and keeps going. When they get closer she thinks they must be a young husband and wife, perhaps traveling to visit some relatives. By the time she sees otherwise, it's too late. She's seen their faces before and even if she hadn't she could've told right away by their attire and lack of headband that they are rogue ninja.

The male has red hair and pale green eyes. He's carrying a gourd of something on his back. He's one year younger than Sakura, if she remembers correctly, and originally came from the Wind Country. She's seen his picture hundreds of times on the S-class list back in Konoha. He wears a simple black shirt with the kanji for one in crimson dyed or painted on it. It looks like a splatter of blood. His name is Sabaku no Gaara and he's a jinchuuriki. The holder of the Ichibi.

The woman is older than both her and her companion; she strains to remember. She has platinum blonde hair and startlingly dark eyes. Sakura thinks she is originally from the Cloud Country and she's also on the S-class list. She wears a navy blue shirt of the same style as Gaara with the kanji for two on it in white. Her name is Nii Yugito and she's the holder of the Nibi.

Sakura forces herself to keep walking and tries to remember everything she was told about these two jinchuuriki. But it's no use. It's almost been four years since the shinobi of Konoha were told about the five remaining jinchuuriki and how they were to kill them on sight. It appeared that Akatsuki was getting stronger and all the great countries were getting worried about what the jinchuuriki were going to be used for. They made a pact that the jinchuuriki must be killed before the Akatsuki found them.

That was the day that Sakura's trust in Konoha first began to waver.

They are only a few meters away and Sakura forces herself to remain calm and alert. She doubts the stories about all jinchuuriki being bloodthirsty killers are true, but you can never be too prepared.

They are so close now and it seems like time is slowing down. Sakura is never more grateful for her mask, for she fears that her face would give her away.

"You're from Konoha," Nii says, when they are not even a meter away, her dark eyes narrowed in dislike, "I'll never forget that stench."

Time freezes.

Sakura opens her mouth to say something. To say anything, but it's too late. The woman's arm comes at her and she only barely dodges it. She flips backwards, ridding herself of her cloak and hood. She draws a few kunai, but before she can throw them she's forced to dodge a wave of what appears to be sand.

Gaara glares at her and blocks her kunai with a wall of sand. Sakura curses under her breath and makes a few hand seals. She runs at Nii, a bright ball of energy in her hands, but the jinchuuriki lashes out with her foot, hitting Sakura in the stomach. Sakura flips backwards again and lands on her hands and knees gasping for breath. She's reluctant to go full out on these people because she's not a Konoha shinobi anymore and has no reason to want to harm them. In fact, she's more connected to them than they know. But she knows they won't listen to her; they're too angry and bitter and Sakura doesn't blame them.

Dodging a wall of sand, Sakura realizes that she has two options. She can either go all out on them and get them or herself killed or run. Sakura's always had pride and hates running, but now's not the time to be thinking of such things. She veers off the path, followed by a huge arm of sand.

"You won't get away!" Nii yells angrily and Sakura can see plainly that her eyes have changed color and her teeth have morphed into fangs.

She can also feel her chakra shift to a more sinister type. Sakura turns and blocks one of the clawed hands with a kunai causing the holder of the Nibi to scream in pain. Sakura sees the opening, but hesitates. If she wanted to, she could kill her right here, right now. But Sakura doesn't and punches her right in the face. Nii falls backward, unconscious and just in time for in a second she would've transformed and her chakra would've burned Sakura's hand more than it already did. Sakura grasps her right hand staring at the amount of damage a single punch did to her glove and her hand. This is her mistake. Suddenly, she's lifted up into the air. Her entire body, minus her head is surrounded by sand. Sakura screams in pain as it contracts and she feels her ribs break. She has no other choice than to use her trump card now. Sakura lashes out with her super human strength that took her a better part of her fourteenth year trying to obtain. The sand wall breaks under fists and Sakura's falling. She sees the surprised face of Sabaku no Gaara and she hits the ground bleeding and coughing.

"Impressive," he says, speaking for the first time.

Sakura spits out blood into her mask and it drips slowly down her shirt and onto the ground. She struggles to her feet and backs up only to find that she backed up onto a cliff. Below her is a raging river. She looks back at Gaara to see him smirking at her.

"You put up a nice fight," he says, "But now, it's over."

Sakura makes her choice in a spilt second and throws herself over the cliff. Air is blowing in her face and she feels her mask fly off and then suddenly she's wet and cold and then everything goes black.

When Sakura wakes up, everything hurts. She opens her eyes blearily and finds that it's noon and she's lying on her back in the shallows of the river. Every breath hurts and she can smell and see blood dripping down her chest. With trepidation and shaking hands she slowly cuts away her shirt with a kunai and forces her head up to look at her wounds. At the last second Sakura forces her head away and vomits into the shallow water, her chest burning with pain at her actions. Tears of pain roll down her cheeks and she bits her lip to keep from crying out.

"_No," _she thinks,_ "I won't be weak. I won't cry."_

She lets her head fall back and she lays there for a long time with her eyes closed, trying to ignore the stabbing pain in her chest every time she draws breath. Something brushes up against her leg and Sakura look to see her pack. Her mask is no where in sight. She reaches with her kunai and manages to pull it closer to her. She shakily opens the pack and find a packet of food that the water didn't get to. She's not at all hungry, but she need the energy to heal herself and get out of the water otherwise she'll die here. Her soldier pills are ruined and so is her book of medical ninjitsu, but those are easily replaced. She eats the food slowly, willing herself not to retch again. Sakura rests a bit after that and then begins to heal her wounds. It takes longer than it usually does because she has to take breaks in-between. After what seems like hours, the pain is gone but Sakura has no energy left to drag herself out of the water. She's cold and wet and there's nothing of use to her in her bag. It's getting dark which means it's just going to get colder.

"_I won't die here," _she thinks, trying to force her legs and arms to move, _"I won't die! I won't…"_

Haruno Sakura falls back into the shallows, unconscious.

**A/N: Ugghh, I really shouldn't be writing this right now. I have three other fanfics that I should be working on, but this idea wouldn't leave me alone. It's not my fault…really. **

**I realize that this fic is really confusing and there's going to be at least one plot twist. You will eventually find out exactly what happened to Sakura, but it'll take awhile. **

**Also, just to make it clear, Gaara never was in the Chuunin Exam, so that's why Sakura has never seen him before, except for on the S-Class list.**

**Anyway, updates on this and my other fanfics are going to be slow, but I will get to them.**

**Next chapter will be called "Goddess" and will be from someone else's point of view. Please review!**

**p.s. I realize that 'omae' is an informal way of saying 'you' in Japanese, however it is also a last name. **

**p.p.s. I sincerely hope that I don't have to explain the name of this chapter.**


	2. Legend

"_What do you want?" Sasuke hisses out, grasping the wound of his shoulder, backed up against a tree._

_They all laugh, and the woman with obnoxiously bright hair steps forward, a smirk on her attractive face._

"_Come with us," she says, "And then, Orochimaru-sama will give you power."_

_Sasuke stares at them, not completely sure of what to say. He subconsciously grabs the curse seal on his neck._

_"Well," Sakon of the West Gate says, "What will it be?"_

_Sasuke doesn't answer._

_"Hmph," he says contemptuously, "I don't understand. Why would Orochimaru-sama want someone this weak…"_

_"Shut _up_!" Sasuke says, though his heart isn't into it._

_He wants to hear more. _

_They laugh again. Sasuke grits his teeth in anger, but doesn't say anything._

_"What about your goal?" Tayuya of the North Gate says, "Are you going to live your life with your friends and not get hurt? Are you going to forget all about Uchiha Itachi?"_

_Sasuke goes rigid. He feels like the breath has been knocked out of him and he remembers _his_ face and what _he_ did, clear in his mind even though he hasn't seen Itachi since that fateful day when he ruthlessly murdered Sasuke's parents. _

_"Don't forget your aims," Sakon continues, "Staying in this village is useless for you. However," he says smiling, "if you come with us, you'll obtain amazing powers. Isn't that what you want?"_

_In the end, it doesn't take a lot of persuasion for Sasuke to agree. Ever since the Chuunin exams ended in such a disappointment, Sasuke's been questioning what he is doing in Konoha. The brief battle with the Sand (one could hardly even call it a war) was a mere distraction. Sasuke is sick of being patronized by Kakashi and the others and he is sick of Sakura's worried glances. He is sick of not getting anywhere, of not having any interesting competition, even that idiot Naruto would suffice. But his old teammate disappeared over a year ago and Sasuke is done playing the survivor of the Uchiha massacre, the number one ninja of his graduating class from the academy, and Uchiha Itachi's little brother. And so he makes up his mind._

_Sasuke doesn't know why he takes the picture with him. In his mind, he justifies it by the fact that he does not hate Sakura, Kakashi, or Naruto. It was nice, for a while, being with them, even though Naruto was an idiot, Kakashi was a pervert, and Sakura was absolutely infatuated with him. They were nice memories and he's not ashamed to admit it. But that time is gone and Sasuke has a job to do. He's put this off too long and he's not going to miss this opportunity. _

_He leaves the forehead protector in his old apartment because he is not a shinobi of Konoha anymore. It doesn't mean anything to him anymore and he neither needs it nor wants it. His time here is done and one piece of memorabilia is enough._

_There is a slight hitch in his departure. He should have known really, that Sakura would have figured it out. He knows that she isn't stupid after all and therefore isn't surprised. But this does not cause him to falter when she cries and begs him to stay. It does not bother him in the slightest when he leaves her unconscious on a bench._

_"We've been waiting, Sasuke-sama," Sakon says_

_He is slightly unnerved by this change in personality, but he refrains from commenting on it._

_"Whatever," he says, "Let's start."_

_Sasuke doesn't look back._

Chapter Two-

Uchiha Sasuke is tired. That's really the only word to describe what he's feeling. It has been three years since he left Orochimaru and six since he left Konoha and he has made no progress whatsoever. He has followed all sorts of rumors, legends, and myths concerning the Akatsuki and Itachi, but all have led to dead ends.

He has not stayed in one place for more than two days ever since he killed Orochimaru. Once a year, Sasuke visits his family's secret weapons house, but besides that Sasuke has done nothing but search for Itachi.

He sometimes feels like he is an angry little thirteen year old again, who still has nightmares and is still weak no matter what he does.

However, Sasuke is not weak, something he proves to himself every time he encounters other ninja and especially ninja from the Leaf. If he really wanted to, Sasuke could avoid them all, but he figures that he needs all the practice he can get. He doesn't kill them, of course, because killing-

_-just creates people like _himself_; obsessive avengers, and one Uchiha Sasuke is enough-_

-is useless to Sasuke in most situations. Orochimaru's death was the exception, because he was too strong and had too many resources to find Sasuke after he left. Sasuke had never had any intention of giving his body away and Orochimaru's death was in order to completely cut ties with the Snake Sanin. And anyway, at one point Sasuke almost hated the man as much as his brother.

Sasuke knows that he is on the S-class list and that he is a wanted criminal and that showing himself to other ninja is dangerous. But he knows that they'll never catch him now, not when he has studied under Orochimaru for three years. If they had really wanted to stop him, they should have gone after him when he first left Konoha. He was very surprised that no one that he knew of was sent to prevent him from joining Orochimaru. He is not trying to be arrogant, however, the Uchiha were one of the oldest and prominent clans in Konoha and to lose the last Uchiha without a fight was odd for Konoha. But then again, Konoha had just appointed a new Hokage and were still trying to reconcile themselves with the Sand.

Sasuke is in the Mist Country due to strange rumors about a deadly sickness. There was no mention of Akatsuki, but Sasuke is so desperate (determined, not desperate) for a lead on Itachi's whereabouts he goes to observe the situation. It is not that unbelievable that Akatsuki would attack a village and if they had somehow obtained a way to contain the deadly sickness they could achieve whatever they wanted.

However, when Sasuke arrives the village has been razed to the ground. Burnt by the looks of it. Sasuke doesn't get too close, but he can tell from a distance that it was a small village and it doesn't look any different from the thousands of other villages that Sasuke passed in order to get here. There is a small chance that if this was Akatsuki's work, they were just testing the disease, but this is unlikely. Sasuke is forced to admit defeat and makes the trek back up north where he will start all over again, sitting in bars and taverns listening to gossip for any hint of the illegal organization's activities.

He is on his way back, following a river which he knows leads to the ocean, where he'll take a ferry back to the mainland. When he sees a flash of pink from between a few reeds on the other side of the riverbank, he is instantly on guard and tenses himself for battle. When nothing happens Sasuke doubles back a bit and crosses the moving water skillfully. He grasps the handle of his sword that is concealed within his cloak with his right hand and moves slowly forward, his eyes trained for any sign of movement. When he gets close enough he realizes it is a person with strangely familiar looking pink hair. To tell the truth, Sasuke's first thought was that it is Tayuya, but that is impossible because Kimimaro killed her years ago.

And then he suddenly recognizes her. She is half naked in the shallows and while the water is bloody around her, he can see no sign of any wounds. He looks dispassionately down at the scars that run down her body and face with slight curiosity.

Sasuke would have been lying if he said he thought much about the people he'd left behind in Konoha. Once in a while, he might've seen something that reminded him of them, but mostly he had concentrated on forgetting his life there.

Sasuke has no idea what she is doing in the Mist Country. As far as he knows the Fire Country hadn't allied itself with them, however Sasuke hasn't really been paying attention to politics since, well…ever. Sakura isn't dead, as far as he can tell, and Sasuke unemotionally looks around at the possessions that are bobbing around her unmoving form. He sees a ruined book, soldier pills, and her shirt, which from the looks of it was probably cut from her body with the kunai lying half-sunken underwater near her hand. She's wearing two odd looking necklaces, one with a simple ring around it, and the other with differently shaped stones as the pendant. Sasuke vaguely wonders if she knows anything about the Akatsuki, but immediately dismisses the point. He cannot see a Chuunin or Jounin vest floating around her meaning she must not be still a Genin and therefore not high enough in rank to know about anything. Sasuke only feels a slight curiously about what has happened to her in the past six years, but it is not a good enough reason for him to linger. He turns to leave when something shiny catches his eye. He immediately thinks of kunai and Sakura's teammates from Konoha coming to find her and immediately tenses. However, when he turns around he only sees a forehead protector, presumably Sakura's, floating in the water.

…Wait, a second…

Sasuke walks through the shallows, not even bothering to use his chakra to stay afloat. He picks it up and examines it, but there's no mistaking the slash through the symbol. His eyebrows furrow and he looks back at her, still unconscious in the cold water.

"_A traitor?"_

He immediately thinks of Akatsuki, but banishes the thought from his mind. This is _Sakura_ he is talking about. The girl who had clung to him like a leech for the better part of his twelfth year. But the mark is still there and there is no mistaking its meaning. Sasuke stands there for a while, thinking, weighing the pros and cons carefully, fully knowing that a single mistake could be irreparable. It was true that she could have information, but it was even more likely that she would despise him for leaving. But the strange curiosity took over again and the desire to talk, really talk, to someone was suddenly overpowering. So Sasuke doesn't think about what he's doing when he gathers up her things. He ignores all the doubts he has as he grabs one of her scarred forearms and drags her from the shallows and throws her over his shoulder. And he most especially disregards the fact that what he is doing is irrational, impulsive, and downright stupid.

Sasuke finds a dark, damp, cave and leans her form against the wall before gathering a few green branches to start a fire with. Dry branches cause smoke and Sasuke would rather not attract visitors. After a while, he remembers that Sakura is still wearing wet pants and with slight annoyance strips her of her remaining clothes, revealing more scars, and hangs them to dry along with the contents of her bag. At the last minute he throws a blanket over her, remembering that waking up completely naked probably won't make her any more likely to tell him anything.

If Sasuke were a normal teenage boy, the idea of an unconscious naked girl (or maybe a woman, Sasuke is unsure of the criteria) might have excited him to some extent. However, in the past six years Sasuke's done a bit of growing up and found that his complete lack of interest in women really didn't have much to do with the fact that he wanted to kill his elder brother, but more because of things beyond his control. This didn't really bother Sasuke, because it was highly unlikely that he would survive to repopulate his clan anyway, therefore hardly mattering who he screwed with in his free time.

Sasuke leans against the opposite side of the cave Sakura is against and doesn't really think of much as he unwraps a two pieces of onigiri and eats them slowly, drinking traditional green tea that has long gone cold from a bottle in his traveling pack. The sun sets and Sakura has still not awoken. Sasuke is slightly annoyed by this fact, but pulls up his hood and closes his eyes, comforted with the knowledge of his standing as a light sleeper.

When Sasuke wakes, it is dawn. Light streams thorough the tops of the surrounding trees into the cave and he sits up and stretches, rotating his stiff neck gingerly. He looks up and sees that Sakura is still unconscious, or maybe asleep, he can't tell. Sasuke digs out a map of the Mist country and scans over it while he waits for her to wake up. He frowns slightly as he traces the river on the map with his index finger, noting how long it will take him to the ocean and back to the mainland. Sasuke is about to put the map back into his back, when he hears a groan from the girl opposite him. He looks up sharply and watches impassively as her face contorts and she groans again, lifting her hand to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She pushed herself off the ground, facing the rocky wall of the cave. The blanket falling to her waist, revealing two huge scars on her back. They look the same age and from the same weapon. She puts one hand against the rocks and the other grabs at her necklaces, making sure they are still there. Sakura leans her forehead against the hard stone, coughing.

"Fuck," she groans out and then looks down to see he blanket.

She immediately stiffens and pulls it tighter around her waist and turns around. Her eyes dart calculatingly towards the dying fire first, then her clothes that Sasuke hung out to dry, and then finally towards him. Sasuke can tell just by her facial expression and her posture that she has changed immensely since he last saw her. She is no longer the weak little girl with a crush on him and he must not underestimate her.

Her eyes widen slightly in surprise, but then her face goes blank. She merely looks at him for a few seconds and he looks back at her, revealing nothing.

"Sasuke," she says finally.

It is not a question, so he doesn't say anything.

"What are you doing here?"

"That's my question," he says, speaking for the first time.

Her mouth twitches in amusement and Sasuke stares.

_"What was that?"_

"I asked first," Sakura says, all semblance of amusement gone.

"I saved your life," Sasuke counters.

"Touché," she says indifferently, "I was following a rumor about some strange disease that struck a village near here."

Sasuke does not like her attitude.

"The village was destroyed," he tells her, "There's nothing left."

She frowns slightly, "How do you know?"

"I was there two days ago."

Neither of them says anything for a few seconds.

"What is your reason for this?" he asks her, holding up her forehead protector.

"That's hardly any of your business," Sakura answers him, but she looks tenser than she did mere seconds ago.

"And anyway," she continues, "I thought my reasoning would be obvious."

Sasuke frowns in confusion. What was she talking about?

"You haven't been paying attention to politics, have you?" she says almost amusedly and Sasuke inwardly scowls at her tone.

"There have been several power struggles in Konoha," she says standing up, letting the blanket fall to the floor.

Sasuke is taken aback by this blatant disregard of modesty and the expression must have showed on his face because Sakura begins to laugh.

She picks up her underwear and pants and pulls them on, reaching for a wire undershirt that Sasuke found among the other contents of her bag.

"The Fifth Hokage was killed and I deemed it prudent to leave," she says casually as she wraps a length of bandages tightly around her breasts, flattening them as much as possible.

Sasuke is not fooled by her casual tone, but says nothing.

She pulls the wire undershirt and another long-sleeved shirt over her head and starts fastening her shuriken pouch to her right leg, "And I've been wandering around for the past two years."

She looks up for a moment and studies him intently, "You really did kill Orochimaru, didn't you?"

Sasuke narrows his eyes, "Yes," he says, "How did you know?"

She looks surprised at this, "Everyone knows," she says, "Did you really think that no one would find out?"

Sasuke _knew_ he should have killed Kabuto when he had the chance.

"It has been three years, you know," Sakura says, looking at him oddly, "I'll have that back, now, if you please," she says, gesturing towards her disfigured forehead protector.

Sasuke sees the opportunity. He pushes a little chakra to his hand and throws the forehead protector twirling toward Sakura like a shuriken as hard as he can. She catches it a centimeter before it hits her face with two fingers.

"That really wasn't necessary, you know?" she tells him, "You could've just asked my rank before I left Konoha. I was a captain of my own ANBU team, by the way."

"Why were you unconscious in that river?" Sasuke asks, angry with himself for forgetting the entire reason he bothered to bring her here in the first place.

Sakura doesn't say anything for a few seconds.

"I made a mistake," she says finally, and begins to repack her bag.

She pulls a small paper from the pages of a ruined book that Sasuke found with her stuff and slides it into her bag.

Sasuke is incredibly annoyed that she trusts him enough to look away from him.

"What kind of mistake?" he asks.

"I ran into a couple of jinchuuriki," she says looking up at him again, as she ties the forehead protector, not like a headband like she did when Sasuke knew her, but like most ninja wear them, "You do know what they are, don't you?" she adds.

Sasuke stiffens, "I _have_ been following rumors of Akatsuki for three years," he says irritably.

To tell the truth, Sasuke doesn't really know all that much about jinchuuriki. He knows that they are humans with demons sealed inside and that Akatsuki is searching for them for an undoubtedly foul purpose, but he's never met one, though he's heard many rumors concerning them.

"They attacked you?" Sasuke clarifies.

"Yes," Sakura says, "One of them, the holder of the Nibi, could smell I was from Konoha. And I was wearing a mask, so she must've thought I was in the ANBU."

Sasuke furrows his eyebrows, "She attacked you because you were from Konoha?"

"Yes," she says again, "All the main countries have agreed to kill jinchuuriki on sight. A precaution against Akatsuki. But it hasn't been working very well, because they haven't been able to find any."

She looks like she is about to say something else, but changes her mind and keeps her mouth shut.

"What are you doing here?" she asks, after another long silence.

"Following rumors," Sasuke says, slightly reluctant to tell her anything.

She raises her eyebrows, "Here?"

Sasuke merely shrugs.

Sakura sits down on the other side of the fire, her scarred face expressionless. She is a lot shorter than Sasuke remembers her. Of course, the last time he saw her, she was only inches shorter than him, but now he's taller than her by more than a head.

Sasuke is still trying to work out his feelings on the matter. She is the first person he's recognized from Konoha ever since he left. In reality, he had never really wanted to see any of them again. His life was complicated enough already, and seeing any of them, particularly someone he knew well, would just make things harder.

Suddenly she smiles, something Sasuke is not expecting and is slightly suspicious of.

"How have you been, Sasuke?" she says.

"Fine," he says stiffly, still looking suspiciously at her.

"That's good," Sakura says absently, "I haven't been fine at all," she continues sadly, rubbing a scarred cheek absently.

"I don't blame you, really," she says when he doesn't say anything, "In fact, you left at the right time. Just a year before things started getting bad."

Curiosity fills him up again, but he restrains himself.

"Where are you going from here?" she asks him, standing up again and picking up her pack.

"Back to the mainland," he answers, "Probably to the outskirts of the Fire Country and then to the remnants of the Sound. It's a good place to start."

The words 'all over again' go unspoken.

"You taking the ferry from Kiri-Machi?" she asks, slightly surprised.

"Yes," he says.

They look at one another for a while, sizing each other up.

"Well," Sakura says smiling again, "There _are_ strange stories going around about the northern mainland, after all."

"What kind of stories?" he asks, interested.

"I heard some tell about a lot of people moving away from up there for no apparent reason, but that's all I know. I'm sure we'll hear more when we get up there."

Sasuke is halfway through nodding his head when he realizes what she just said.

"…We?"

Sakura raises her eyebrows at him, but doesn't say anything. She walks halfway out of the cave and turns around and looks at him.

"Well?" she asks, "Are you coming or not?"

Later, Sasuke will blame his actions on momentary insanity, lack of sleep, and intoxication…without alcohol. They make a strange pair, especially after Sakura buys a mask and a cloak (she lost her old ones) though Sasuke can't really complain, because somehow everything seems easier if you don't have to do everything all by yourself. Sakura's a lot quieter than he remembers as well and doesn't constantly hit on him, which probably adds to his good disposition on the subject.

They reach the ocean within three days and then board the ferry and stay there for another thirty-six hours. They get a lot of strange stares because of their dark cloaks and hoods, as well as Sakura's mask, but Sasuke knows they would get many more stares if she didn't wear it and the less attention they get the better.

After the day and a half is up they smuggle themselves through the customs between the two countries and make there way north. They pass within 17 kilometers of Konoha, but neither of them says anything. Sasuke hasn't asked what exactly brought about the circumstances that made her a traitor. The Sakura he knew before had always been loyal and she must have family and friends still living in the village of her birth. But he out of anyone knows that some wounds are too deep to be healed, and knows better than to question her further about her reasons.

They didn't really talk much, to each other or to others. So it was only when Sakura secures lodgings for them the first day they reach the mainland by selling a prescription to cure the hotel owner's rheumatism, that he found out that she is a medic-nin.

The first few weeks pass quickly and without strife and it is a shock to Sasuke when he looks at a calendar and discovers that he has been traveling with Sakura for more than a month. Time had always been oddly distorted ever since he left the Sound and stopped paying attention to the days, but usually he had some sense of it. He had also learned to work around some of Sakura's strange habits, including the fact that she always bathed and went to sleep at the same time, and that she would sometimes go quiet for hours on end and stare blankly ahead no matter what he did. She also had a habit of holding onto both her necklaces whenever her hands were free. But it wasn't like before, when all Sakura did was try and win him over and always ended up having to be protected. Indeed, in the purely physical sense, Sakura was now stronger than him, something he only found out when he walked in on her lifting a boulder the twice her size 'for practice.'

When they were not on the move they hung out in seedy bars and quietly listened to gossip and rumors going around, trying to dissect fact from fiction. They kept to the sidelines and really didn't do anything that Sasuke hadn't done before, however Sasuke couldn't help but notice that he seemed in higher spirits than before. And he decided that maybe having a teammate wouldn't slow him down, and that maybe, just maybe Sakura could be off some help to him. If not in tracking down Itachi, then at least her presence would mean that he wouldn't be so lonely anymore.

And Uchiha Sasuke smiles.

**A/N: Yay! Chapter Two! And before you ask, this fic isn't going to be Sasu/Saku. They're just friends, really. **

**The meaning of this chapter title is that the name 'Sasuke' is the maiden name of a goddess in a Japanese legend. Sucks for him, I know. **

**Next Chapter will be called 'Maelstrom," and hopefully you can guess who P.O.V. it will be. Hint: Prepare for excessive swearing.**

**Thanks to my wonderful beta Sleeping Soundly and please review! **


	3. Maelstrom

"_Open up! ANBU!"_

_Naruto groans and pulls his pillow over his head._

_"Mmm'go 'way!" he yells, cursing under his breath._

_"Open this door, or we'll break it down, brat!"_

_Naruto opens an eye blearily, and with a few blinks he registers that it's 3:43 in the morning. _

_"Goddammit!" he yells, pushing himself out of bed, wincing as his feet touch the cold floor._

_He strides across the floor of his small apartment and wrenches open the door, "You had better have a fucking good reason for this!" he yells into their faces, "Do you have any _idea_ what time it is?!"_

_Yes, Naruto likes his sleep._

_"We were ordered by the Hokage to come and collect you," one of the masked figures says, his voice filled with malice._

_"At three in the _fucking _morning?" he spits at them, completely awake by now._

_"Yes," another figure says impassively._

_"What the hell is so important that it can't wait until morning?" Naruto asks, shivering in his thin pajamas. _

_"Get dressed," the first shinobi says._

_"Not until you tell me what the hell's going on!" Naruto snarls at them, wishing he made a more impressive figure. _

_They laugh and slam the door in his face._

_"Get dressed," they say and Naruto angrily complies. _

_He knows only too well what will happen if he doesn't._

_They take him to the old man's office and Naruto opens his mouth to yell at him and _make _him tell him what the hell's going on and why he's being dragged out of bed at this ungodly hour, but he stops at the look on the Sandaime's face. He looks older and much more serious than Naruto has ever seen him and suddenly Naruto feels a strange sense of foreboding. He looks around the room and sees there are other people there, about fifteen of them. None of them look familiar, but they're all staring at him with a look that Naruto only knows too well._

_"What's going on?" he asks the old man._

_"Naruto…" the Sandaime Hokage says wearily, "We have a problem."_

_Possibly the biggest understatement of the century. _

_"More specifically," a severe-looking old women says, "A problem with you."_

_"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asks boldly, but fear is growing in his gut. _

_"Your latest mission report…" the old man says, "Included something…we did not expect."_

_"Sarutobi!" A tall man of roughly the same age reprimands, "Get to the point!" _

_Naruto frowns, he can't think of anything that happened during the mission that would warrant him being dragged out of his bed. _

_"It appears," the Hokage continues, "That the seal that hold the Kyuubi inside your body is eroding."_

_Naruto doesn't really understand and no one really explains anything to him. To tell the truth, Naruto doesn't understand what really went on in that room until months later. They spend what seems like hours taking about probabilities and percentages and pros and cons. Nobody asks what he thinks or what he wants and before Naruto knows it, he's packing his bags and being sent out of the village on 'probation' with a nameless ANBU who's supposed to watch over him. _

_Naruto reflects that he shouldn't have been surprised when he wakes up one morning and even his guard is gone. _

Chapter Three-

Uzumaki Naruto isn't really sure whether to laugh or scream his lungs out. It's a reaction that he really should be used to by now, but Naruto has always been a little slow. He groans and throws down his desecrated picture book onto the floor and groans again.

"Fuckin' crazy bitch…" he mutters, "I can't believe it…I liked that book…"

Naruto closes his eyes and leans back onto his bed. He moans into his pillow and picks up the book again, his eyes traveling up and down the written over pages.

"Well?" a feminine voice says, "Do you like it?"

Naruto glares at her, "You ruined my book!"

She shrugs, her long brown hair rippling with the movement, "I made it better."

"You made Momotaro (1) a _demon_!"

"He was born in a peach! C'mon, he couldn't be human!"

Naruto moans helplessly into his hands, "Gahhh!"

"Oh, don't be like that!" she snaps.

Naruto mutters obscenities into his hands, "Fuck you, Tsuyu."

The jinchuuriki grins manically, "Anytime, anywh-"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear it!" Naruto says, planting his hands firmly over his ears and squeezing his eyes shut.

The holder of the Nanabi doesn't look at all put off by this, but scoots closer to him, "Oh, you know you want i-"

"Like hell!" he retorts, forgetting that he was ignoring her.

"Methinks thou doth protest too much!" Tsuyu says, putting her hand on his thigh.

"No!" Naruto yelps, "There can never be too much protesting. Really! I don-Fuck! Help! Rape!"

Naruto leaps out of his bed and runs out of his room, screaming his lungs out. He runs down the hall, skids to a stop at another door and bursts inside.

"GAARA!" he screams, waving his arms melodramatically, "TSUYU'S TRYING TO RAPE ME!!"

The green-eyed jinchuuriki looks up at him from his seated position on his bed without emotion, "Then kill her."

"Is that your solution to everything?" Naruto demands.

"Yes," Gaara says impassively and continues sifting sand with his hands.

"Okay, now that's just kind of creepy," Naruto says.

Gaara looks up to glare at him and Naruto is about to run for his life when someone else opens the door. Naruto screams and hides behind Gaara.

"DON'T TOUCH ME, YOU- Oh, it's just you."

Yugito raises her eyebrows at him, "What the hell is going on?"

"Tsuyu's trying to _rape_ me!" Naruto says, throwing up his arms.

"Again?"

Naruto hates these people.

"AGAIN!" he yells, "AGAIN? IS THAT YOUR ONLY REACTION, YOU-"

"Shut up," Yugito says helpfully.

"You've got to help me!" he pleads, "I'll do what ever you want me to! I'll kidnap babies, sacrifice little fluffy animals, an-GAHH, YOU!!"

"Hey, Naruto, Gaara," Tsuyu says, smirking.

"Do I not exist?" Yugito asks her.

"Sure you do, but you're a _girl_."

Naruto whimpers pitifully.

"You two on the other hand…"

Gaara narrows his eyes and Naruto cowers behind him planning his escape.

"RAPIST!" he screams out.

"I prefer the term 'pervert,'" Tsuyu says delicately.

"You got me drunk and s-se-_seduced_ me!" Naruto cries, jabbing his finger at her, "Rapist!"

The blue-eyed woman rolls her eyes at him, "You're _still_ hung up on that?" she scoffs, "That was two years ago, for God's sake!"

"You scarred me for life!"

"Well; if I remember correctly, you seemed to be enjoying yourself at the tim-"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Naruto screams, cutting her off, "Why don't you go after Gaara, _please_!"

Gaara lets out a little cough.

"Erm…I mean, well…Hey…Gaara…DON'T KILL ME!"

Tsuyu flops down onto Gaara's bed to his obvious displeasure, "But you're so much more fun to torture!"

Naruto lets out a mournful wail, "Save me, Yugito!"

"What's in it for me?" she asks shrewdly.

"I'll make you ramen!"

She just looks at him pityingly.

"…err…I won't…make you ramen..?"

And then Gaara speaks, "You have ten seconds to get out of my room."

There is an awkward pause.

"But Gaara-" Naruto whimpers.

"Ten. Nine. Eight. Sev-"

"-if I leave, she's going to-"

"-en. Six. Five. Fo-"

"You're counting too fast," Tsuyu observes, "Hey, Yugito, what are you doing?"

"Preserving my life," the holder of the Nibi answers, halfway out the door, "I suggest you do the same."

"Spoilsport."

"Gaaaaaara! _Please_ let me stay! You don't understand, if I leave, she'll-"

"-our. Three. Tw-"

"Well, my time here is up," Tsuyu says, getting up to stretch.

"-o. One. Ze-"

"Bye, Gaara-chan!"

And with that she leans down and kisses Gaara full on the mouth and is gone before Naruto can blink. And when he does, he realizes that he's alone in the room with Gaara.

"Gaara…?"

He doesn't say anything and appears to be frozen in shock.

"Heheheheheh…That good, huh?"

"Out," Gaara pronounces, "_Now._"

"Okay," Naruto says meekly and flees before Gaara regains the use of his limbs.

There's five of them left alive. Gaara, Yugito, a mute, twelve-year old boy named Waka, Tsuyu and himself. The Ichibi, Nibi, Gobi, Nanabi, and the Kyuubi. From what Naruto's heard, the Sanbi was never a jinchuuriki, the Yonbi and the Rokubi were captured by Akatsuki early on and the Hachibi, the first jinchuuriki, died fifty years ago; though Tsuyu says she is pretty sure Akatsuki have managed to extract the demon from his corpse. Out of the five of them that are alive, Naruto probably had the easiest time. He never realized what a blessing it was that the people of Konoha were banned from speaking about the demon inside him.

As far as Naruto can tell, Gaara and Yugito had similar childhoods, which is probably the reason they get along so well. All the people in their home villages knew what the were and from a young age both Gaara and Yugito were able to use powers that came from housing a demon. It was a double-edged sword, really. While they were able to defend themselves, everyone was too afraid to go near them and from a young age they became murderers. Once, when Naruto had conned Yugito into drinking with him, she admitted that she had probably killed over a hundred people before the age of ten. Tsuyu, the second oldest of them all, is terrified of enclosed space, which leads Naruto to believe that she was locked up as a child. Waka had the worst childhood. They found him chained, half-dead, in the town square of a small village. He had not only been used for target practice by the local ninja, but also had been sexually and mentally abused to the point where he could no longer talk. After they had freed him, Naruto had transformed to the point where he had five and a half tails and leveled the village before he could be stopped.

It was strange, really, how they had all came together. Tsuyu was the first of the jinchuuriki to leave her home village and she was the one who gathered them all together. She had been a Sound ninja originally, but later had probably been locked up after they discovered how dangerous she was. At the age of 13, she found out that Orochimaru wanted to experiment on her, broke out, and has been on the S-class list ever since. She was wandering around the Lightning Country when she met Yugito, a sixteen-year old Jounin at the time. Yugito actually hid Tsuyu in her home for a while, until Tsuyu finally convinced her to no longer be pushed around and they left together. A year later they heard rumors of Gaara and traveled to the Wind Country. Gaara attempted to kill them when they first confronted him, but failed miserably and got his leg broken by Yugito. Tsuyu told him that they persuaded Gaara that the Wind wasn't the place to be if he really wanted to kill people, and that being a S-class nin would present a much better opportunity, but to this day Naruto still isn't sure if she was joking or not. Naruto was found next, totally emaciated in the forests on the outskirts of Konoha. All of them, even Gaara, weren't completely sure how to react to his obnoxiously orange clothes and loud mouth. If Naruto remembers correctly, Tsuyu and Yugito muttered disparaging things about Konoha and Gaara just stared at him. They tried to convince him to get rid of the orange clothes, shut up, drop his forehead protector in a lake, and throw out his picture of Team Seven, but so far have succeeded on none of these counts. Naruto proudly wears an orange shirt with the kanji for nine on it in blue, is still loud as hell, has his old forehead protector folded reverently in the bottom draw of his desk, and the picture of his old team is tacked to his wall in pieces which Naruto meticulously taped together after Tsuyu ripped it in half.

They don't meet often. Actually they only see each other once every three months. Most of the year, Tsuyu stays in their underground base and takes care of Waka, Gaara and Yugito scout out Akatsuki and Naruto just sort of wanders. Originally, they all traveled together, but after they picked up Waka, who couldn't travel, someone had to stay with him. Tsuyu volunteered for the job and Naruto went off with Gaara and Yugito. That worked for a while, but eventually Naruto got sick of their complete lack of respect for life. He didn't want to get into an argument and he got bored staying at base all the time, so he goes off on his own, sometimes training, other times doing things as basic as sight-seeing. Yugito was a Jounin before she became a missing nin, so she taught them all sorts of techniques and brought an entire library of ninjitsu books with her when she left. Naruto isn't weak like he once was as a Genin and he can proudly say that it was he who broke Hoshigaki Kisame's nose when they encountered him several years ago. It's not the same as Konoha and Naruto still misses Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, and Sasuke, but Naruto's okay. He survives and he takes one day at a time.

Though, to tell the truth, Naruto doesn't really know how he feels on the topic of the two Uchiha he's encountered. Naruto was shocked when he discovered that Sasuke's elder brother, the one who Sasuke told him he wanted to kill just days before Naruto was sent away, is part of the Akatsuki. He was sickened when Tsuyu told him of the Uchiha's crimes and felt suddenly extremely homesick when he thought of Sasuke and what he must have gone through. But nothing prepared Naruto for the shock when Gaara and Yugito came back with the news that Uchiha Itachi's younger brother had betrayed the Leaf and joined Orochimaru. Naruto had been so angry that he chucked the picture against the wall and broke the frame into a million pieces. In the beginning, Naruto had forced himself not to think of Konoha, and he had told himself that they would probably be better off without him. But Sasuke's betrayal was like a slap in the face. At first, Naruto felt a horrible sense of guilt, he felt that maybe if he was there he could have stopped him. Indeed, Gaara knocked him out for three days straight in order to stop him from marching right into the Sound and knocking some sense into Sasuke. That year was probably the hardest time Naruto ever went through. Akatsuki has just started emerging into the open and none of the other jinchuuriki could understand what he was going through, for none of them had ever been close to anyone who wasn't a demon holder. Eventually, Naruto was forced to admit that he didn't know Sasuke anymore and that he couldn't control him and he had every right to make his own decisions. Naruto hadn't heard anything at all flattering about the Sound from Tsuyu, but he convinced himself that it didn't matter and what his old teammate did was hardly any of his business. After all, he has bigger things to worry about. And so, Naruto convinced himself he didn't care, when several years later, he heard rumors that Orochimaru is dead, killed by his own student, Uchiha Sasuke.

Naruto leaves the base a few days later with a few new jutsu from Yugito's books under his belt. Their base is on the southeastern side of the Rock Country near the Whirlpool Country, which is a relatively peaceful country. And so Naruto pulls on an orange jacket that hides his 'jinchuuriki shirt' and stay a few days in the country which he jokes is named after him. He then crosses the northern part of the Fire Country, and enters the remnants of the Sound. It has been a no-man's land ever since Orochimaru's death and several countries are vying for the territory. There isn't a war going on over it, but there is a lot of tension and the rumors Naruto's been hearing tell him that negotiations haven't been going well. It's this that draws Naruto to the area, the high tempers and the pressure in the air, for it is just the right environment for him to find someone interesting to fight with.

Later, Naruto regrets not taking the saying, "be careful what you wish for," more seriously.

Naruto almost didn't see him. It wouldn't have make much difference if he hadn't, because the guy turned out to be only a scout anyway.

Naruto is walking on a path just a short way out of a major city in the Sound when he sees something red out of the corner of his eye. He turns and sees nothing but trees on the side of him. He moves closer and slips in between the trees, his right hand sliding down into his shuriken holder. He still sees nothing. Sighing, Naruto vaguely wonders how paranoid he's actually become and leans up against a tree…which proceeds to squawk in pain. Naruto's eyes widen and suddenly he's thrown back against another tree by a quick blow to the chest. He draws a kunai and takes in the _thing_ before him. Naruto doesn't think he can call it a man. The thing's head is two different colors and it has something that look likes a plant that's coming out from behind it that Naruto isn't sure is part of his body or not. But the thing that worries Naruto the most is that it's wearing an Akatsuki cloak.

"You idiot!" it hisses in a strange croaky voice, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Naruto snarls and opens his mouth to respond; he's always hated being called an idiot.

"Shut up!" it says again, only this time it's voice is lower, almost as if it's a different person, "Just focus on the problem!"

"What the hell are you?" Naruto asks, horrified.

It looks at him for a second and then in a flash starts to disappear in to the tree again.

"Like hell you're getting away!" Naruto yells, throwing his kunai.

It dodges his weapon and suddenly it's above him. Naruto rolls out of the way just in time and the entire earth shakes. He conjures several Kage Bushin and they launch themselves at the thing.

Suddenly the thing is gone and so are Naruto's clones. He is completely alone. Even the trees have gone and there is nothing but earth under his feet and the sky above him.

"What kind of jutsu is thi-" he starts, but then understands.

"_Genjutsu! I should have known! He didn't look a ninjutsu or taijutsu type anyway."_

Naruto focuses his chakra into his hands and is just about to get rid of the illusion when the sky above him explodes. He looks up and there is a huge crack in the cloudless sky of the fantasy world. He gapes for one second too long and huge almost plantlike tentacles burst through the hole and pull him into the air by his wrists and ankles. Naruto struggles to move his hands into the necessary position to get out of it, but to no avail. A tentacle wraps itself around his throat and Naruto chokes. He can't breathe, can't see. Everything is blurry and confusing and-_Am I going to die here?_ The thing contracts even more and Naruto feels his body seize up, his hands falling uselessly to his sides, lack of oxygen taking its toll. His eyelids start to droop and the background fades away.

"_Foolish brat!" _A voice says inside his head, _"Pitiful! You'll die without my power, won't you?"_

There is a snarling noise and it takes Naruto a few seconds to realize that he is the source. He opens his eyes and rips the tentacles away from him with clawed hands. He falls and hits the ground with a thud, gasping. He regains his breath quickly and Naruto puts his hands together and shouts "_Kai!_" his entire body shaking with the energy of a Bijyuu. The empty sky and landscape shatter like broken glass and Naruto is again standing in the forest again. The vaguely humanoid thing gasps in shock, and throws something which Naruto is unable to dodge. Two strange looking shuriken imbed themselves in his chest and abdomen but Naruto doesn't let them stop him. He lunges for it, summoning a huge wind that rips through the forest in order to confuse his prey. He grabs it by the throat and it screams with pain as the poisonous chakra of the Kyuubi comes in contact with it's skin. He bashes it's skull against the tree, once, twice, thrice; blood staining the tree's bark. And then it moves no more. Naruto feels a strange but wonderful sense of elation and satisfaction before he realizes what he's done.

He lets go of the dead thing's throat and it falls to the ground, limp and unmoving. Naruto starts to shake, his bloody hands grab at his jacket as he wraps his arms around himself. He nearly trips over his own feet as he backs away, shaking and gasping for air. He turns away and retches onto the mossy forest floor. Naruto falls to his knees, barely avoiding his own sick. A bloody hand grasps his bangs and Naruto stares at the ground, beginning to hyperventilate.

"Fu-Fuck! Goddamn little- shit…Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

His voice has an element of a sob in it, but Naruto ignores it. He's shaking like a leaf and gripping his hair and the dirt and the only thing he can think of it that they were right and he's nothing but a-

_"Monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monst-"_

"Shut…up!" Naruto says, but his voice is weak

He tries to get up and leave, anything to get away from here, but there's a horrible pain in his chest that he didn't notice or realize until now. But he has to get away and now otherwise he'll go absolutely insane and loose himself andNaruto can't afford that because he has people who rely on him-

_"Do you really?"_

-and people who care and would be sad if he-

"_-died-"_

-disappeared. And Naruto can't let them down because that's his ninja…his ninja…his-

But everything hurts too much and suddenly Naruto is dizzy and everything goes blurry. Naruto keels over and his forehead hits the grassy earth. He coughs and remembers the strange shape of the missiles and realizes that they must be poisoned. Naruto tries to reach down and pull them out, but he can't move, paralysis it must be, and he's cold, _shivering_ cold and it's only then that Naruto wonders if he's going to die.

He doesn't want to die.

"Damn, I-what the hell? I, fuck…_hurts_," he mumbles nonsensically, dirt getting into his mouth.

Then suddenly there's something pulling him over and he falls onto his back. He can only see the blurry outline of a shape above him. There is noise, talking? Someone has found him maybe? No, finding is bad. Bad people, caught, Akatsuki, dead.

Naruto lets out a futile groan, tries to move his arms, ward them off somehow, protect himself. It doesn't work. His arms won't move for him and there is a light pressure on his chest. Pain. Hurts. He cries out and feels his body jerk in response. Strange sounds, tearing, ripping? Colder than before, suddenly. Then pain, white hot flashes. His throat hurts too, incomparable to his chest, and it's only then that he realizes that he's screaming. Something wet in his eyes? That's funny. Naruto doesn't remember the last time he's cried…

Sound again. Mumbles, mummers, hums, drones. Voices? Oh yeah, the person. They can talk, can't they. What are they saying? He doesn't understand them. It doesn't make sense. Wait, it's getting clearer now. Ruto? What does that me-

"…Na…o…Naruto!"

Uzumaki Naruto passes out.

(1) The Legend of Momotaro goes like this: An old childless couple finds a giant peach floating down the river. They cut it open and find a baby inside. They raise it as there own and many years later demons start stealing their stuff. Momotaro goes off with some friends, beats up the demons, and gets their stuff back. The End.

_Jinchuuriki info:_

_Sabaku no Gaara-18, holder of the One-Tailed Raccoon, originally from the Sand. Number on shirt: _一

_Nii Yugito-25, holder of the Two-Tailed Cat, originally from the Cloud. Number on shirt:_二

_Kaikatsu Waka_ ( 快活 ワカ)-_12, holder of the Five-Tailed Bear, originally from the Mist. Number on shirt:_五

_Asari Tsuyu_ ( 鯏 露 )-_21, holder of the Seven-Tailed Kestrel, originally from the Sound. Number on shirt:_七

_Uzumaki Naruto-19, holder of the Nine-Tailed Fox, originally from the Leaf. Number on shirt:_九

**A/N: Hmm…Naruto's kind of weird, huh? I didn't realize how weird he was until I reread the chapter. Anyway, next chapter's going to be third person omniscient (a little bit of everyone's P.O.V.), just to warn you so you don't get confused.**

**Please review and tell me what you think about my story!**


	4. Circling Around Again

_ And suddenly, just like that, after her whole life of being surrounded by friends; Sakura is alone. Kakashi-sensei isn't really around; there isn't much point is there? It isn't like anyone wants to hire a one-man cell team._

_To make it worse, no one seems to understand. Even her parents, whom she had taken for granted until she realized how lonely Sasuke-kun and Naruto had been, couldn't seem to understand. They sympathize with her, of course, but they do not understand why she no longer smiles and does not spend hours getting ready in front of the mirror anymore._

_It takes her a whole month to get over Sasuke, and when she does it is the most liberating feeling in the world. And it also breaks her heart. Later, she will not remember much of this time in her life, she will only consider the sadness that accompanied it. She does not know how many days went by and how many menial missions she missed, but she does not care. She sits in her room and reads her old books from the academy over, and over, and over again. When her hair grows long again she cuts it brutally off with a kunai; anything to remember that time when she and Sasuke were like a team, even if she does not have romantic feelings for him any longer. _

_Her parents plead with her to leave her room, to get herself assigned to a different team and start all over again. Her mother gives her several talks about getting over unrequited love, and her father tells jokes to try and make her smile. Sakura never felt as lonely as she did then. _

_Eventually, Ino seems to swallow up her pride and she comes one cloudy afternoon and drags her out of her room. She tells Sakura to get over herself and that she's being selfish and stupid. When Sakura doesn't say anything, Ino bursts into tears and hugs her. And still Sakura does nothing. _

_After a while, Sakura starts to do missions again, as an extra and a substitute. She is hardly home then, which worries her parents. She spends most of her time in the library and on the training grounds, becoming a total workaholic because it's the only thing she _can_ do. _

_In the long run, Ino gives up trying to cheer her up and integrate her back into society. In the long run, her parents stop asking her how she feels every five seconds and instead tiptoe around her like she is dying. In the long run, Sakura doesn't give a damn. _

_Sakura is in bed when she first discovers it. It is morning and the night before she had fallen asleep with a book in her hands. When she shifts around and opens her eyes, the book falls from her lap and onto the floor. She automatically leans down and reaches for it and suddenly it is in her hand and she doesn't know how it got there. She looks down at the book and to her utmost surprise there a strange, light green sort of _tendril _coming from her right hand that has wrapped itself around the book's spine. _

"Chakra?"_ is her first thought. _

_It is indeed chakra and Sakura is so surprised that she drops the book loudly on the floor and doesn't care. With experimentation she finds that she can manipulate it very easily; elongating, compressing, and widening it to her heart's desire, though she cannot change its color. She can pick things up and after smashing her bedroom mirror she learns that it can indeed be useful in combat. It reminds her of climbing trees with Naruto and Sasuke in the Wave Country and how proud she was when Kakashi-sensei told her that chakra manipulation was her specialty. Sakura is completely drained after testing her __capabilities, but she feels better than she had in months. She does not tell anyone about it, not even her sensei, but instead uses it more and more. She discovers that she cannot manipulate it from any other part of her body but her right hand at first, but after three months of training Sakura is able to use it tolerably with her left. It gives her a purpose, this training, and only years later does she realize that this is the beginning of the end. _

_About a month later, Team Seven, or its remains, is called to do an odd D-Rank mission that has been deemed suitable for two people, though really, it's not like Kakashi-sensei will do anything. It ends up being the most useless waste of time ever; can't civilians do _anything_ by themselves? Kakashi-sensei apparently feels the same way and disappears in a cloud of smoke the second they finish, but not before telling her to turn in the mission report to the new Hokage. _

_ To tell the truth, Sakura has only seen the Hokage once. Whenever she would go on missions, she would always be an add on, someone who was required by the Hokage while she gave the team the mission details, meaning that she had not spoken or seen her since she examined Sasuke's curse seal all those months ago. She had heard, however, quite a lot about the woman and nothing was very flattering. The few rumors that Sakura had heard stated that the woman had not the slightest inclination to be Hokage but was pushed into it by the Council. They said she was rude, brash, and bossy, and that she drank into excess and gambled all her money away. So with slight trepidation, Sakura makes her way to the Hokage's office and knocked meekly on the door._

_ "Goddammit, just open the fucking door!" a woman's voice yells angrily. _

_Sakura does, and slips inside of the room, just in time to hear the woman's next sentence. _

_ "Why the hell does everyone fucking knock? Hell, I'm sick of knocking!"_

_The Godaime Hokage is slightly tipsy and is waving a sake bottle around manically. She has large dark circles under her eyes and her hair is greasy and unkempt. Great._

_ "What are you here for?" she barks at Sakura._

_ "Mission report," Sakura says dully, wishing she could go home and sleep._

_ "Well, give it here!" the Hokage snaps angrily. _

_Sakura hands her the papers and the blonde haired woman grabs them; leaves through them and jots a few things done on a large scroll spanning her desk. She puts the bottle down on an uneven surface, and it wavers and tips off the desk. _

_ "Fuck!"_

_Sakura acts before thinking, and before it hits the ground a thin strand of light green chakra has wrapped itself around the bottle's neck, holding it in midair._

_The Fifth Hokage stares at the bottle, her chakra, and then her. Sakura reddens slightly._

_ "Well," Tsunade-sama says, swallowing, "What was your name again?"_

The beginning of the end indeed.

Chapter Four-

"Sasuke!" Sakura yells, jumping through the window of their hotel room, "Get me my bag!"

She hits the floor with a loud bang and hoists Naruto's limp form off her shoulder and onto the bed.

Sasuke, who had been sleeping in his usual seated position against the wall (apparently the bed wasn't good enough), wakes with a start.

"Wha-?"

"Don't just sit there!" Sakura says, trying to staunch the flow of blood on Naruto's bare chest, "Get it!"

Sasuke grabs her kit that's hanging off a chair and tosses it to her. She empties it's contents onto the floor and rummages through the packets of dried herbs and bottles. She grabs a cloth and presses it to Naruto's chest. His eyes snap open, they're as blue as she remembers them, and he convulses, gasping for breathe.

"Sakura, what the hell is going on?" Sasuke asks, coming stand next to her as she mixes an antidote, "Who is th…" he trails off and pales considerably, a remarkable feat considering his usual complexion.

Sakura drenches the bloody cloth into the concoction in her mortar and then presses the antidote into the wounds on Naruto's chest. The blond gives a strangled cry; it's so strange how low his voice is now, how tall he's grown, and gives such a lurch that Sasuke has to grab his arm to stop him from falling off the bed. He gives another smaller lurch and then goes limp again. Sakura rips off her gloves and presses her bare hands to his wounds, using her chakra to forcibly rip the poison out of his body.

Sasuke does not speak until the poison is gone and she has bandaged Naruto's torso and given him something for the high fever he has.

"What's going on?" he asks in a closed, suspicious tone, "Sakura is that…Naruto?"

She stares at him. Maybe she's wrong…but could it be possible that he doesn't…know?

"Yes," she says, wiping her bloody hands on her pants, "I felt a strange chakra pulse while I was scouting," she explains, "I followed the source and found…Naruto," it's so strange to say his name, "…and a dead Akatsuki member."

Sasuke starts, "Who?"

"I believe his name was Zetsu," she says repacking the contents of her bag, " A S-Class nin from unknown regions."

"Did…Naruto…kill him?"

She looks at him through the eyeholes of her mask, "Yes."

There is a silence and Sasuke looks impassively down at Naruto's still form and she cannot tell what he's thinking.

"Did you see anything?" he asks suddenly, "Anything that might…hint to what he's been doing all this time?" he is not talking about Zetsu and maybe it's just her imagination, but he sounds slightly bitter.

Sasuke has not looked closely at the shirt that now hangs around Naruto's neck and Sakura's not even sure if he would recognize the nine on the shirt for what it was.

* * *

"You don't know," she says.

He frowns at her, "Know what?"

"I though Orochimaru would have at least told you that."

Sasuke inwardly flinches at the name, but outwardly shows no expression.

"Speak plainly," he demands.

He is getting very sick of her know-it-all attitude.

She doesn't say anything at first and Sasuke forces himself to wait patiently.

"It is not my place," she says finally.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he sneers.

She shrugs, "Wait 'till he wakes up," and will not say anymore.

Sasuke leaves and does not care that he is acting juvenilely when he slams the door. He goes down into the bar and orders some cheap sake.

This changes everything. He had never expected to ever see Naruto again. He had wondered, of course, all those years ago, what had happened to his loud, blond haired teammate, but he had learned to put such things out of his mind. He and Sakura had never mentioned him in their two months traveling together and to tell the truth, Sasuke had barely recognized him. He was taller, Sasuke muses, much taller than he remembered him, maybe even taller than him now. Though maybe that was just the sake talking. He immediately puts down his glass, pays, and makes his way back up to the room. Maybe the idiot would be awake and Sasuke could get some answers. When he reenters, he finds Sakura going through the contents of a black bag that Sasuke did not notice before.

"I found these," she says, holding up a row of shuriken, kunai, and a pack of explosive tags.

"And these."

She holds up some soldier pills, a few thousand ryou, two scrolls, and a strange sort of holographic card with strange symbols on it that neither of them can identify.

It gets late and they end up ordering room service and take shifts staying up in case Naruto wakes up.

Sasuke has really no idea what to say to him when, if, he does. He's not sure if Naruto could potentially dangerous to them, he did kill a member of the Akatsuki after all. With all the weapons he had on him, it's obvious he's still a ninja and by the lack of headband anywhere he's not with Konoha or any other village. Unless he's undercover, of course, which is incredibly unlikely considering he's _still _wearing orange after seven years. Sasuke wonders how much he's changed. He would've had to, wouldn't he? As much as he hates to admit it, there was a period in his life that Sasuke cared very much about the man lying prone in the bed across the room. He cared enough to die for him and would have if things had played out a little differently. Once Sasuke had come to terms with the fact that he found men attractive, two years after Orochimaru's death, he had wondered back in a rare moment to his Genin days. He had even once entertained the idea that he might have had an infatuation with his stupid, annoying, blond teammate. Sasuke ponders if that would change anything now. He decides against it.

A groan disturbs him from his thoughts. Sasuke's eyes widen and next to him, Sakura jolts into a seated position. In a singular moment, she removes the mask, exposing the odd scars on her face to the moonlight, giving them an eerie sort of glow. They both look at each other and then at Naruto when he rolls to face them and pushes himself up.

* * *

Naruto is really warm; which is disturbing and comforting at the same time. Disturbing, because the only times he is warm is when he is sick, and comforting, because maybe he's finally found a relatively cheap place to stay with heat. He rolls over and intends to go back to sleep, when he realizes something vital: he doesn't remember checking into an inn last night. In fact, the only thing he remembers is…is…

Naruto pushes himself up and hisses slightly at the pain in his chest. He gingerly pokes at it and comes into contact with bandages.

"Leave it," a cold, unfamiliar female voice says.

Naruto gives a jolt and looks up. But before he can find the source of the voice, he comes face to face with Uchiha Itachi.

Naruto gives a startled yelp and makes a grab for his shuriken pouch, but it's gone. He looks up, prepared do whatever it takes to get out of this, but then stops.

…Wait a second…

He starts to notice things, like the lack of Akatsuki cloak and ring. But there's no denying that there's something familiar about that face, which can only mean one thing…

Buying for time, Naruto glances to his left and sees the woman who spoke earlier. Long, thin, scars run down her face, matching the one through the Konohan symbol on her forehead protector. Naruto probably wouldn't have recognized her if it wasn't for her bright pink hair and green eyes. They stare at each other for a few seconds and Naruto begins to wonder if he's incredibly drunk.

"It's been a while, Naruto," the woman says, smiling, and for a second it looks like she's about to cry.

The man next to her doesn't say anything, but continues to look suspiciously at him.

"The fuck?" is the only thing Naruto can say, "_Sakura-chan_?_ Sasuke_?"

"Well, at least he remembers our names," she says, still smiling.

Sasuke says nothing.

"Well," Naruto says, trying to rationalize this, something he was never very good at, "I'm either dreaming or unbelievably hammered."

"Unfortunately," Sasuke drawls, his voice much lower than Naruto remembers, "It's neither."

"It seems _you_ haven't changed," Naruto blurts out before he can stop himself.

Sasuke raises his eyebrows slightly and a tiny frown appears on his face.

"Well, this is exceedingly typical," Sakura-chan says, talking to the wall, "How about we forgo the pleasantries and get right down to business?"

"Huh?" Naruto is so confused.

"It appears that your intelligence level hasn't improved," Sasuke says smugly.

"Fuck you!" Naruto snarls and he doesn't know why but for some reason the Kyuubi's chakra flares and Naruto feels the odd sensation of his eyes changing color and his finger and toenails morphing into claws. It's only when Sasuke's eyes narrow and his hand goes for his shuriken pouch that Naruto realizes what is happening and forces back the demon's chakra. Surprisingly, Sakura-chan does nothing.

"What the hell was that?" Sasuke snaps and Naruto is slightly annoyed that he's looking at Sakura-chan instead of him.

"I am really surprised you don't know," she says and Naruto catches on.

"Yeah," he says, frowning slightly, "Didn't you team up with creepy-snake guy a while back?"

Surely Orochimaru would have told him about the jinchuuriki.

"'Creepy-snake guy?' Sakura-chan quotes.

"That's what I call him," Naruto says shrugging, "I don't think 'Orochimaru' really gives you the feel for his personality."

Sasuke looks vaguely disturbed and Sakura-chan looks like she trying hard not to laugh.

"Ahem, right," she says, "Anyway, they told the entire village four years ago," she says, flicking her scarred forehead protector.

Suddenly, Naruto realizes what he should have from the beginning, that Sakura-chan _knows _and he feels vulnerable and exposed and nothing seems to make sense. She's an enemy, isn't she? But according to the slash in her forehead protector she's traitor…and Sasuke is obviously one too. But what does that _mean_?

"I'm a jinchuuriki," his mouth vomits out, "Holder of the Kyuubi. That's why I got thrown out seven years ago."

Naruto has never heard a silence so loud.

He watches Sasuke carefully and is perturbed by his reaction. He first sees something resembling surprise, then slight confusion, and finally understanding.

"Oh," he says and then proceeds to look amazingly disinterested.

For some reason, Naruto feels very annoyed and is about to say something, but Sakura-chan cuts him off.

"Now that we've got that out of the way," she says in an irritatingly casual way, "What do you know about Akatsuki?"

* * *

Naruto blinks at her; a look so reminiscent of their Genin days that it makes her want to cry. Out of all of them, it looks like he's changed the most in appearance and the least in other ways. He's much taller than her now, of course, his shoulders are wider, his hair is a bit longer, and his face has lost a lot of its previous baby fat. But he still has the same way of talking and the same casual manner. She knows that Sasuke is wary of him does not trust him in the least and that she should feel the same, but it's hard when he reminds her so much of her old goofball teammate.

"Hee?" he says, "What's _not _to know about Akatsuki?"

Though, maybe Sasuke had a point about Naruto's intelligence.

Beside her Sasuke scoffs and Naruto narrows his eyes and opens his mouth to retort and Sakura is tempted to just let them fight it out for old time's sake.

"From the beginning," she says, distracting Naruto, "Please."

"Umm…okay," he says looking slightly embarrassed, "Well, yeah, they're this evil organization who wants to take over the world, by stealing the bijyuu and stuff…umm…yeah, so far their members are this Deidara guy, er…puppet something or othe-ah, Sasori, then your asshole brother," he says gesturing to Sasuke, "Weird guy with all these piercing whose name I dunno, creepy girl who can turn into paper, Kakuza, and Tobi, and then what's-his-face…Kisame, shark freak. Oh, yeah, then there was Hidan, but we think he's dead 'cause he disappeared a few years back and we haven't seen him since. Crap, I'm missing one…oh yeah, there was that one planty guy, but, I sorta killed him…"

Naruto gets a strange, foreboding, sort of closed look and his face when he mentions this.

"Zetsu," Sakura says, biting back a smile at the look of pure annoyance on Sasuke's face.

It seems that, even after all this time, Naruto still rubs Sasuke the wrong way.

"You've seen Itachi?" Sasuke asks seriously, looking interested.

"What? Oh yeah, he's an uptight fucker, isn't he? His stupid genjutsu sucks ass!" Naruto says crossing his arms and nodding vigorously, "Tried to kill me, how many times?" he starts to count on his fingers, "…er, four, I think. No, wait, five. Yeah, five!"

"You said they…wanted to take over the world?" Sakura asks, before Sasuke can say anything else.

"Well, duh!" Naruto says, looking confused, "I mean, c'mon! They're an evil organization! That's what they do!"

"Oh, please," Sasuke mutters, "Kill me."

"With pleasure, you asshole!" Naruto retorts.

"My God," Sakura says, unable to contain herself any longer, "You'd think seven years hadn't passed and that we were all still Genin!"

They both look at her strangely as if unsure as to what she's talking about.

Sakura throws up her hands in exasperation, "I mean to say, it's been _years_ and you two _still_ argue like an old married couple."

This gets a reaction out of them. Naruto looks embarrassed and Sasuke looks vaguely offended.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Sasuke asks gruffly, still looked irritated.

"Ehh, looking for a good fight actually," Naruto says yawning and scratching the back of his head, "You know, potential war zone, high tensions and all that."

…Sakura muses that Naruto was probably dropped on the head as a child.

"What? Don't look at me like that!"

"You," Sasuke informs him, "are an idiot."

Sakura zones out as the bickering starts again.

* * *

Sasuke has come to the conclusion that Naruto has not matured mentally in any way, shape, or form in the time they'd been apart.

"Have you grown up at all?" Sasuke asks him spitefully.

"Hah! Look who's talking! I bet I'm taller than you!"

"That's not what I meant, idiot."

"You're just jealous!"

"…"

"C'mon, you know it's true!"

"…what is there to be jealous of?"

"Fuck you, you asshole! If I wasn't injured, I'd-"

Sasuke scoffs and shakes his head in a pitying manner, just to be obnoxious.

"Settle down," Sakura says from behind a new book that she had purchased yesterday, "There are people trying to sleep, you know."

Naruto scowls and pouts making him look ten years younger. Sasuke finds this incredibly amusing and turns his head away to hide his smile. He even forgets to be annoyed with Sakura, which confirms his suspicions. He is most definitely drunk. Well, maybe not _drunk_, but definitely tipsy or some other symptom of alcohol consumption that results in bad judgment. He needs to go to bed know before he does anything stupid. It is three in the morning, after all, and now that he knows that Naruto won't attempt to kill him (probably) he can sleep easier.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing, you asshole? Are you giving up?"

Sasuke gives him a disdainful look, "Go back to bed," he says imperiously.

"The hell? I just got up!"

"It's three in the morning."

"Pft! Going to bed early is for suckers!"

"…just shut up."

Sasuke pulls his hood over his head and leans back against the wall. He tunes out Naruto's expletives and muses that it could have probably gone at lot worse than it did.

He wouldn't be lying if he said that he didn't care much that Naruto was a jinchuuriki. Actually, he was glad to have that clarified, because he had always been morbidly curious as to why Naruto had disappeared. The only thing that bothers him is that he knows the remaining jinchuuriki move about in groups and that one of these groups had attacked Sakura two months previously.

"Fucking asshole," Naruto mutters.

"You haven't changed much, have you, Naruto?" Sakura asks, sounding amused.

Naruto mutters something under his breathe that Sasuke can't hear and Sakura gives a low laugh.

"You have," Naruto says more seriously, sounding a bit confused as well.

"True," Sakura says casually, but Sasuke can sense and underlying wariness in her voice.

"How did you get those scars?" and "How come _you're_ a traitor?" are his next two questions and Sasuke can't help but tense.

It seems Naruto hasn't really gained any subtly either. Even Sasuke, who has been traveling around with Sakura for two months hasn't asked those questions.

…Then again, the fact that he doesn't really care about the answers plays a big role in his lack of inquiry.

"My shishou," she says softly, "was the Fifth Hokage. I trust you heard about the scandal two and a half years ago."

"Yeah," Naruto replies softly, "Wasn't she accused of treason…and executed?"

"Yes," Sakura says coldly, "After that, I couldn't stay in Konoha any longer."

There is a long silence and the next thing Sakura says is 'good night.'

Sasuke stays awake a long while after that, aware that she did not answer Naruto's first question.

* * *

When Naruto wakes up the next morning, his wounds are healed and he feels inordinately cheerful, though that mostly has to do with the satisfaction of waking 'the bastard' up with a pillow to the face. Sasuke is furious, still not a morning person Naruto notices, and Sakura-chan has to break them up.

If Naruto had time to reflect, he probably would've thought it was strange how comfortable they all were with each other after being apart for so long. But, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it) Naruto's not really the reflecting type.

He succeeds in disgusting Sasuke and Sakura-chan (though mostly Sasuke) with his eating habits at breakfast in an attempt to distract himself from asking about the creepy mask Sakura-chan wears. Therefore, he is incredibly surprised when Sakura confronts him about their next plans when he repacks his pack.

"You're coming with us," she tells him as she hands him some of his explosive tags.

"I am?" Naruto says, dumbstruck.

"He is?" Sasuke says, looking horrified.

"Yes," Sakura says firmly.

And that was that.

**A/N: Chapter Four! W00T! I'm on a roll! **

**About the whole Akatsuki members; this is an alternate universe so I had Hidan be killed off instead of Sasori…no real reason. I hope the whole switching personalities thing isn't too confusing, because I intend to keep this format for the rest of the fic. **

**And yes, I'm having way too much fun with the chapter names.**

**So yeah, review please and thank my beta! **


	5. Fan It To Fire

_Unlike what most people thought after he left, Sasuke doesn't betray Konoha on an impulsive whim or quirk._

_In the twenty-four hours that he is given for his decision, he does a bit of research at the library. It takes Sasuke hours to find anything substantial. All he finds, at first, is large history books with long passages describing the great, Legendary Sannin; Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade. In some of the more recent entries, he finds small mentions of Orochimaru's betrayal of Konoha and unknown whereabouts._

_Finally, he is so frustrated that he asks a librarian for access to the criminal records of Konoha. The first librarian he asks, an elderly woman, absolutely refuses to direct him to the record room, telling him he is much to young to see such things. The next woman says the same thing, utterly ignoring his Chuunin vest. Eventually, he comes across a younger man who must have been new on the job or incredibly naïve, for he leads him to a small room in a corner of the complex._

_After that, it is quite easy to find the information he wants. The files are in alphabetical order of the criminal in question and after looking through a few of the 'O' files, Sasuke understands why the first two librarians did not let him into this room. The files are very detailed, complete with pictures of the crime, the weapon, and the accused. Sasuke sees the mangled body of a rape victim, an elderly man with his head bashed in, and the blood covered figure of an abused mental patient before he reaches Orochimaru's file._

_On the front cover there is a list of crimes and he is not surprised at the large number of them. Sasuke passes over murder, treason, torture, and human experimentation, but when he sees the words 'child molestation' he stops._

_He stares at those two words for a long time and thinks very carefully about what he is going to do. He had had a sneaking suspicion of this before, but hadn't found the hard evidence until now. A shiver of disgust and horror arises but Sasuke holds it back in. He cannot afford to be weak right now._

_But Sasuke backtracks for a second, imagining an alternate scenario than the one he had been thinking about previously. He could leave, right now. Close this file and walk away. He could go find Kakashi and tell him about Orochimaru's minions and how Orochimaru wanted him to betray Konoha and join him. Kakashi would tell the new Hokage and he would be placed under guard. They would send an ANBU team to the designated place where he is to meet the Sound Four and either capture or kill them. And he would be safe from a sick criminal that killed his former teacher without hesitation. But what about-_

"_**You're not worth killing."**_

"_**Foolish little brother."**_

"_**If you wish to kill me, hate me! Loathe me! Detest me!"**_

"_**And only then will you be able to-"**_

_And Sasuke thinks of Itachi and all doubts are washed away. He closes the file, leaves the library, and begins to pack._

_Late one night, less than a month later, when Kabuto wakes him up and says that Orochimaru wants to see him, Sasuke knows what's to come. He blocks out his fear and looks at his reflection in the one window in his room. _

"_This is the person I've become," Sasuke thinks, "and I will not regret it."_

_And, when Sasuke returns to his room hours later; shaking, sobbing, and bleeding, it is this thought that keeps him sane._

_This is the person I've become, and I will not regret it. _

_This is the person I've become, and I will not regret it._

_This is the person I've become…_

_AND I WILL NOT REGRET IT._

Chapter Five-

At first, Sasuke couldn't _believe_ that Naruto was 'officially' traveling with them. Almost as much as Naruto. In his opinion, Naruto was much too loud, stupid, and annoying to travel with anyone, much less two S-class nin. However, then he remembered that all of the Akatsuki are looking for people like Naruto and this was his ticket to finding Itachi. He shut up very quickly after this revelation.

He is sure that Sakura would not approve of this reasoning, but he doesn't give a damn, and after all, _she_ was the one who suggested that Naruto travel with them.

"Hey, hey, asshole, wanna spar?" Naruto asks him a few days later, after they've moved further north and dropped their bags into their rooms.

Sasuke pauses to think about this for a second. It's true he hasn't done anything remotely close to sparring in a while and he wouldn't want to get out of shape…

"Alright," Sasuke says casually, pulling off his hooded traveling cloak.

"Hahaha, I'm going to kick your ass, so be prepared!" Naruto says loudly, grinning and holding two fingers up in victory, "Hey, howabout you buy me ramen after I totally own y…" he trails off and Sasuke looks up in surprise. Something made Naruto shut up?

Naruto is staring at him in a way that makes Sasuke feel distinctly uncomfortable, "What?" he asks in annoyance.

"What are you _wearing_?" Naruto asks in horror.

Sasuke blinks and looks down. He's wearing what he always wears: a dark haori with the Uchiha symbol on it, a rope obi, fitted pants, and standard black shinobi sandals.

"Ughh," Naruto says in disgust, "Gods, your fashion sense sucks!"

Sasuke thinks this is quite grand coming from Naruto.

"Excuse me?" Sasuke says, feeling vaguely irritated, "You wear _orange_."

"But-but," Naruto protests, "What's with the purple rope, bow thing? That's so…bondagy!"

Sasuke's first thought is that 'bondagy' isn't a word and only then realizes what Naruto just said.

He angrily opens his mouth to retaliate, but Naruto cuts him off.

"And yuck, you're wearing all black and stuff!"

Sasuke can already feel a headache coming on.

"Why the hell do you care what I wear?" he asks, slightly annoyed that Naruto is making such a big deal about _clothes_.

Naruto ignores him, "And what's with the haori? That's so old-fashioned!"

Sasuke's patience snaps and he lunges at Naruto drawing his sword in the process. Naruto ducks, yelling obscenities, and throws a few kunai at him. Sasuke catches two of them and makes to throw them back, but then realizes that Naruto has jumped out the window. Sasuke activates his Sharingan, allows himself a smirk, and hurls after him.

Naruto is standing sideways on the outside wall, eyes red and fangs bared. Sasuke throws a punch, which Naruto blocks, and then Naruto grabs his wrist and throws him to one side. Sasuke gains his balance back relatively quickly and dodges a one of Naruto's Bushin in the process. A tiny spark of Chidori in his left hand draws Naruto's attention and Sasuke lands a solid punch to his jaw.

"Bastard," Naruto snarls, his voice sounding slightly deeper and more feral than usual.

He throws a powerful kick at Sasuke which misses by a centimeter and Sasuke jumps off the wall, flips into the air and lands on the roof. Sasuke's eyes widen as he feels the cool blade of a kunai at his throat.

"Gotcha!" the real Naruto snarls.

But Naruto's not the only one with a trick or two up his sleeve, which he will find out shortly.

* * *

Naruto is just about to relax and spend some quality time making fun of the asshole when the man in front of him seems to melt. Naruto stares for a second and then realizes a bunch of snakes have taken Sasuke's place. Naruto jumps backward in surprise, but stops short when something prevents him from moving any further. He looks down and whadya know? More snakes!

"You asshole!" Naruto yells at Sasuke who has materialized a few feet in front of him and is looking very smug, "Fucking cheater!"

"I win," Sasuke says simply, Sharingan eyes whirling.

"I can't believe it, you bastard!" Naruto yells, buying for time, while messing with the kunai in his right hand, "Snakes! Ughh, this is so gross!"

"It's your own fault," Sasuke informs him, smirking, "Now you have to suffer the consequences."

"Ughh, this is nasty," Naruto whines, completely ignoring Sasuke's remark, "And kinda kinky actually, if you think about it…"

Sasuke looks shocked and slightly embarrassed, and Naruto makes his move. He slits his own hand with the kunai and then pushes both hands together in front of him, which is relatively easy, considering the snakes had previously been lax on their grip because he hasn't been struggling. He makes a certain hand seal and Sasuke suddenly realizes what he's doing, but it's too late.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he yelled.

A huge cloud of smoke fills the air coupled with a snarl and a flash of gold. A huge golden fox, three times the size of Naruto, steps out of the smoke.

"Brat!" she snarls, "Why the hell did you summon me?"

"Gods, you're supposed to help me, you know," Naruto observes, "Anyway, anyway, Tamamo, can you do that cool fire ball thingy, you know the one that blasts things apart and shit?"

"It's nice to know I don't have to worry about you doing anything unexpected," Sasuke says, regarding Tamamo with suspicion.

Naruto scowls, "Fuck you! You're just jealous that my summoning animal looks _so_ much cooler than yucky, yucky snakes!"

Sasuke raises an eyebrow at this, but doesn't say anything.

"Please! Please! Please!" Naruto begs, "See, he's an asshole! Help me!"

"What's in it for me?" she asks haughtily, swishing her four tails in the air.

"What's in it for you? _What's in it for you? _Goddammit, what about the stupid blood contract thing on that stupid scroll? Do you have any idea how _long _it took me to find that stupid thing in the first place? First, I had to break into the Rock's Hidden Village, then, I had to actually _steal _it and then, I had to escape from their fucking ANBU and then-"

"Fine!" she says, glaring at him with her amber eyes, "If you shut up I'll help you!"

Naruto never closed his mouth quicker.

She scowled (or what looked like a scowl) and turned her eyes to Sasuke.

"…so, what was I supposed to do again?"

"Fire thing! Now!" Naruto yells, gesturing wildly.

"Can't I just eat him?"

"No! Why would I want you to do th…wait, you eat people?" he asks curiously.

"Sometimes," Tamamo says, sharpening her claws.

"Really? What do they taste like?"

"Are you going to do anything at all, idiot? Or are you trying to bore me to death?" Sasuke asks.

"Shut up! I'm getting there! Just you wait!"

"Like chicken," Tamamo says mildly, yawning, "Are you sure I can't eat him?"

"Noooo, that's gross…Goddammit, you asshole, how they hell do you get your snakes to do what you want?"

"Genjutsu," Sasuke answers, completely straight faced.

Naruto gapes at him, "Genjutsu? But that's _mean_!"

"Wow," Tamamo says, "You're a bit of a bastard, aren't you?"

"Yeah! Cruelty to animals! You're gonna get arrested for that!"

"Oh yes, because that's the only reason I could _ever_ be an S-Class nin, is it?" Sasuke says sarcastically.

"…Shut up! Get him Tamamo!"

The golden fox rolls her eyes and launches herself into the air.

* * *

Sakura is amused. She finds it utterly hilarious that while seven years have passed, wars have been fought, the 3rd and 5th Hokage are dead (two of the Legendary Sannin and their teacher,) and Naruto and Sasuke are still at odds with each other, and still know how to push each other's buttons. In the two months she has traveled with Sasuke she's never seen him so annoyed as he is now.

She figures she will eventually step in and stop them before they smash the entire building into pieces, but for now she is content to watch them fight.

The fox surprises her when she sees it. Most of the summoning scrolls are under close guard of whichever village owns them. She knows for sure that Konoha doesn't own the Fox scroll; the last time she checked they only had the Phoenix, Tiger, Slug, Toad, Dog, and Monkey. They used to have the Snake, but Orochimaru had stolen it decades ago.

When the four-tailed fox starts shooting fireballs at Sasuke, who skillfully dodges them, she figures it's time to break them up. She jumps from her place on a nearby treetop to the roof of the inn as familiar black marks spread themselves over Sasuke's body, emanating from the curse seal on his neck. Naruto looks shocked, and the fox takes the opportunity to leap over Sasuke and lash out with it sharp claws. Sasuke manages to dodges one paw, but the other catches him in the back before she can get there. He flips over, snarling angry the curse seal mark starting to form into one solid mass. The fox snarls and leaps for him-

Sakura does two things at once. She leaps in-between Sasuke and the fox and wraps a thread of light green chakra around Sasuke's sword arm and the fox's left paw.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke glares at her, "What are you doing?"

"Stopping you from destroying our shelter for the night," she replies, keeping her eyes on the fox.

"Oi, Sasuke," Naruto asks looking concerned, "Are you okay? And what's with all the weird squiggly things?"

Sasuke glares at him too; apparently angry that Naruto is worried enough to stop their fight, but the mark reside back to the rear of his neck.

"Gods, Tamamo!" Naruto says angrily, speaking to the fox, "I told you you couldn't eat him!"

Sakura raises a pink eyebrow.

"I wasn't going to eat him," the fox, a female apparently, says, licking Sasuke's blood off her claws.

"Right," Naruto says, crossing his arms suspiciously.

"Let me see your back," Sakura says as Naruto continues to argue with the fox.

"I'm fine," Sasuke says crossly, pulling back the folds of his ripped haori and looking over his shoulder to see his wounds.

Sakura's eyes narrow and she grabs his shoulder and pulls his back toward her so she can see his cuts. Sasuke struggles angrily, but she takes no notice. The cuts are strange. They look old, half healed. She saw almost the same phenomena with Naruto's wounds, but then again, Naruto has the Kyuubi sealed inside him, so…

Sasuke jerks out of her grip, looking furious, "What the hell was that for?" he snarls.

"You heal fast," she says suspiciously, ignoring the cloud of smoke to her left signifying the departure of the golden fox.

Sasuke tenses and they look at each other distrustfully for a few seconds.

"…yeah, sorry about that, asshole. I dunno why Tamamo tried to eat you, usually she doesn't do weird shit like th…Am I missing something?"

"That isn't normal," Sakura says, "And if I remember correctly, additional healing power isn't an effect of Orochimaru's curse seal."

Sasuke scowls at her, "No, it's the power of the White Snake."

The name does not ring any bells.

"The White Snake?" Naruto says, "Isn't that that half immortal demon thing from that one legend?"

Sakura frowns, she's never heard of any legend regarding a white snake.

"Yes," Sasuke says, "I stole it from Orochimaru when I killed him."

There is an awkward pause…which is then ruined by the loud growl of Naruto's stomach.

She and Sasuke both look at him abruptly.

"What?" Naruto says, reddening slightly, "It's lunchtime!"

* * *

Sasuke scowls and swiftly sweeps past Naruto and jumps off the roof and back into their room. He can hear Naruto complaining loudly and grabs some healing salve from his bag and applies it to his back. He is incredibly annoyed that Sakura stopped their fight, just when he would've taught that moron a lesson too…

"Hey, hey, bastard," an annoying voice says from behind him, "We're going out to eat, so hurry up."

"Go away," Sasuke says grumpily.

"Geez," Naruto says, acting as if nothing happened, "Don't be so pissy, it's lunchtime, which means food, and we're not leaving without you."

"Go _away_."

"Hey, do you need help with that? 'Cause, you know, there's this on spot on your back that's really hard to reach, so-"

"Touch me and I kill you."

"Well, excuse me for caring!"

"You are."

"Huh?" Naruto says intelligently.

"Excused."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Sasuke restrains himself from rolling his eyes, "It means get the fuck out."

"Gods, someone needs to get laid…"

Sasuke wants to punch him. Hard. However, Sakura had a point when she said that they shouldn't destroy their shelter tonight. So maybe tomorrow.

He finishes applying the salve, tuning out Naruto's babble, pulls his haori back on, and pulls on his cloak.

"By the way, Sasuke, you owe me ramen!"

Oh, fuck no.

To tell the truth, Sasuke doesn't know why he doesn't just leave. Sakura he can stand, but Naruto's just a bother. He talks too much and tries to act like nothing's happened in the years they've been apart. Having him with them is all Sakura's idea, he knows. It's some fucked up guilt of hers for all those things she said to him the day before he disappeared. It's true that Akatsuki is after Naruto, but is dealing with this idiot really worth it-

Sasuke blinks and gives his head a little shake. Where did that come from? Of course it's worth it; if he kills Itachi that is.

The real reason he doesn't leave is because he is weak. He has been so lonely for the past six years and he is trying to escape the feeling by using the people he knew when he was a child. It's utterly ridiculous and childish, but Sasuke can't help it. He figures the feeling will just pass, and when it does he will be able to leave them behind, Sakura's stupid ideas be damned.

He ends up following them threw a series of seedy bars until Naruto finds one that sells ramen. Naruto badgers him into paying, as he doesn't have a lot of money, Sakura doesn't carry around any, and Sasuke, as Naruto puts it, is a rich bastard anyway.

After they have finished eating, Sakura pulls out a map and they plan their next move.

"We could always go further north," Sakura suggests, tapping the parchment.

"Oh, yeah, and freeze," Naruto quips.

"What about east?" Sasuke asks.

"I was just there," Naruto says, "Nothing except that Akatsuki guy, but he's dead now."

Sasuke notices that Naruto sounds slightly despondent about this fact.

"Any other suggestions then?" Sasuke says petulantly.

"South?"

"We were just there, besides, there are strange rumors about people migrating away from the northeast of here," Sakura says, face unreadable behind the mask.

"Well, duh!" Naruto says, stretching back in his chair, "They've been a bunch of battles up there."

"What!" Sakura sat forward in his seat.

"Where did you hear that?" Sasuke asks.

Naruto blinks in confusion, "I thought you knew," he says, scratching his head awkwardly.

"Explain," Sasuke says.

"Well, yeah, I mean they weren't like, official battles, but it's been Rock against Leaf up there. It's been going on for awhile, you know."

"What do you mean 'not official?'" Sakura asks.

"Well, the rumors said that they're just going crazy up there. I mean, the Leaf and Rock didn't _order _their shinobi to kill each other, but…they did, I mean, are."

"Why didn't we hear this before?" Sasuke asks, looking at Sakura questioningly.

"Well, people don't really want to talk about it, you know," Naruto says.

When both of them stare at him, he continues, "I mean, c'mon, I hate to break it to you, but you kinda scare people with the mask and the bastard glaring at everyone. I guess, they think it's just easier to tell you people are just moving away and hope you get the picture!"

Sasuke frowns and opens his mouth to reply, but is interrupted by a sharp voice and a blade against his throat.

"Don't move. We're taking you in."

Sasuke starts in his seat, hand already on the hilt of his sword. They have been suddenly surrounded by masked figures in black. The etching on the fore of each of their masks identifies them as Rock ANBU.

"Well, well, well," a man, presumably their leader, says, "Look what we've found; Uchiha Sasuke and one of the jinchuuriki."

Sasuke slowly surveys the situation, ignoring Naruto's indignant snarl. There are twelve of them, Sasuke thinks calmly, and he, Naruto, and Sakura all have kunai at their throats. How could he not have noticed? This isn't good. Naruto could be killed right on the spot. He spots a low hanging beam and makes his move. He forces away the blade at his neck with a bit of chakra and shoots straight up in the air attaching his feet to the ceiling. He hears screams of the civilians and the sounds of Sakura smashing tables and Naruto slamming the ANBU into the walls. He leaps onto a unscathed table and disables one nin with his sword and another with his fists. Then, as he turns around, there is white hot pain in his neck and a torrent of blood.

* * *

Naruto throws a few kunai and summons huge wind that rips through the bar, sending broken tables, chairs, and people flying. Sakura-chan is fighting three at once and Naruto is just about to summon Tamamo when he sees Sasuke fall. He crashes to the floor, as if in slow motion, clutching the side of his neck. Blood is literally _gushing_ out like Naruto's never seen before and the ninja who struck him down raises his wakizashi and-

Naruto lunges across a table, slashing two ANBU who get in his way. He grabs Sasuke's prone form and attempts to stop the blood from coming out, but it won't stop, and Sasuke looks so delicate somehow, so dead, and-

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto screams and her masked face turns his way and then suddenly, the ground splits and the entire bar starts coming down. A beam falls directly overhead, but Naruto kicks if out of the way, still keeping his palms over the deep cut in Sasuke's neck, but it won't stop and Naruto's getting scared because it's so much blood, but eventually, after all that blood runs out he'll…

Sakura-chan pushes him out of the way and places both hands on Sasuke's neck and a bright green light engulfs the spot on his neck. Naruto smashes another beam out of the way and dust gets stuck in his throat causing him to choke. There is a horrible pain in his back and he falls to his knees.

"Naruto!" Sakura cries.

She reaches out, grabbing his wrist, and then they are gone in a puff of smoke.

When Naruto opens his eyes again, he is back in his and Sasuke's room. He sits up straight and then throws himself over the side of the bed he had been previously lying on.

"Sakura-chan!" he says, terrified, looking over to the other bed where Sasuke lay, still unconscious. She turns around, her mask off, scars glinting eerily. She looks exhausted.

"Is he-" Naruto starts, but then sees her hand still healing his neck. He can't have been out that long.

"He should be fine," Sakura says, sweat running down her face, "I just have to finish…this…"

"Are _you_ okay?" he asks coming to stand by the side of the bed, wincing at the pain in his back.

"This just…takes a lot of chakra," she says with difficulty.

Naruto moves his eyes to Sasuke, who looks very pale, even more than usual.

"He'll be okay," Sakura says, "Have a nasty headache when he wakes up, but-" she stops unable to say anymore.

"How did we get back here?" Naruto asks, gaze affixed to the shrinking cut in Sasuke's neck.

"Trans…portation Jutsu…"

"Oh," Naruto says, feeling stupid. He wonders if he hit his head on something.

Sakura pulls her hands away suddenly and falls to the floor breathing heavily.

"Oi…" Naruto say concernedly, putting his hand on her shoulder, "Are you sure you're alri-"

"I'm fine," Sakura says, pushing herself up, "I just need to…sleep…" With that she drags herself to the other bed and collapses on it.

After making sure that Sakura's really just asleep, Naruto sits on the floor next to Sasuke's bed. He stares at him for a few seconds, taking comfort in the fact that he's still breathing, however shallowly. He then proceeds to think that Sasuke is incredibly pretty and then he _knows _that he's hit his head on something.

"I'd get a drink," Naruto says aloud, "But then, who knows what I'd do?"

Exactly.

* * *

Sakura wakes up completely refreshed, to the voice of her annoyed black haired teammate.

"Naruto, if you don't get off me now, I'm going to castrate you," he says, sounding drained, though still maintaining a sense of composure.

Sakura looks over to see that Naruto has apparently fallen asleep on Sasuke's chest, and in his weakened state Sasuke is unable to push him off.

She lets out a snicker and he turns and frowns at her.

"Get. Him. Off."

She eventually takes pity on him and makes to extract the blond haired man from his chest, but Naruto doesn't cooperate. Instead, he grabs Sasuke tighter, buries, his head in his shoulder and mumbles something about ramen.

"Naruto…" Sasuke says monotonously, "Get off me or I'll fucking tear your lungs out."

"Maybe he wouldn't talk so much then," Sakura muses.

Eventually, Sakura uses her super strength and manages to remove Naruto before Sasuke cuts his head off. She drags him to the other bed and then rummages in her bag for her soldier pills and water.

"Here," she says, handing him a glass and the pills, "Take these, they'll make you feel better."

"What happened?" Sasuke asks after taking the pills.

"I ended up having to take down the whole building in order for us to escape. That was a careless mistake, though," she says angrily, starting to pace, "How could we have not noticed them?"

Sasuke shakes his head wearily, "I underestimated them," he mutters and then falls asleep.

Neither of them wake up for a long while and it gives Sakura some time to reflect.

Naruto doesn't remember. It took her a few days to tell, but now she can say with a great amount of certainty that he does not remember her last words to him all those years ago. She's not exactly sure how she feels about it. She is happy, because he will not resent her; but at the same time, angry because she feels like she should apologize and can't.

She wonders what she is doing, and if she is naïve for wanting her old team back, just like it was before. Before everything fell apart.

When the sun starts to go down, she realizes she has been sitting in this old, rickety chair for hours. She gets up and takes a shower, washing all the dust and debris from the roof off her body and clothes. While she is getting dressed, she finds a light green shirt in the bottom of her bag that Ino had given her for her fourteenth birthday.

_"It matches your eyes," _Ino had said and she had smiled. And for the first time in a while, Sakura had smiled back.

It still fits her. Sakura puts it on and looked at her reflection in the old dirty mirror. The green shirt, The simple, silver ring with pretty designs engraved into it, Tsunade-sama's necklace, and the ugly, filthy, _disgusting_ scars that cover her from head to toe. She fumbles in her traveling pack for the bottle filled with a diluted acid solution and unscrews the cap.

_"I'm sorry, shishou, but I can't let them disappear like you wanted them to."_

**A/N: Wow, this chapter was just filled with creepiness! And it's the longest one yet! I've never done 9½ pages before! So don't complain and tell me it's too short! **

**Lol, anyway, the name Tamamo comes from a kitsune in a Japanese legend named 'Tamamo no Mae." She seduced people and turned in Death Rocks and all that lovely stuff.**

**This chapter was a bitch to write, but next chapter will be better (w/ slashyness!), so please review!**


	6. Down Spiral, Up Spiral

_Naruto thinks it really all began with Tsuyu. As much as Naruto would like to place all the blame on her, he knows that it's partially his fault too. Or rather, no one's fault. But it's easier to pretend that she caused it all herself because she's older and therefore should be more responsible. _

_Naruto is seventeen and is no stranger to sake. Yugito, Tsuyu, and occasionally Gaara like to drink and Naruto soon gets a penchant for the slow burn of the rice wine. It wasn't the first time he'd ever been drunk and done something ridiculous. He'd woken up stark naked once or twice, with no idea how it had happened. Unfortunately, this time, soon after he opens his eyes, it's all quite obvious. _

_Naruto wakes up and rubs the sleep out of his eyes. He blinks in surprise to find himself naked, and makes a disgusted face at the stains on the bed and his thighs. Great. He'll be doing laundry again. _

_A groan from next to him causes him to tense and turn in horror to the sight of the equally naked form of his brown-haired friend. _

_Naruto might have been a little slow sometimes, but isn't hard for him to figure out what happened. Tsuyu doesn't seem to care that much, but Naruto freaks out. Not only because he really isn't attracted to the woman like that, but also because it had been his first time and dammit, call him an idiot, but Naruto had wanted it to be more than just a drunken tryst. Even that first morning, Naruto can't remember exactly what happened and he's a bit sad. He's always been a bit of a romantic, and envisioned his first time with someone special. Not his 'soul mate' or some shit like that, and he wasn't the 'saving himself for marriage type' (he was a teenage boy, after all), but he'd wanted…_

_It isn't that he hadn't really ever thought of sex before (au contraire,) but it always seemed so…far away. He'd always viewed it as something that _would _happen, but not for a long while. The actual experience really opens his eyes to the _possibility _of actually…having sex and even more important, being an adult. It scares him, but even then he's a little excited too. _

_Things are really awkward for a while after a while, and Naruto has a lot of trouble even looking at Tsuyu without blushing. Eventually it almost becomes a sort of inside joke that Tsuyu seduced him._

_Tsuyu never argues with him over whose fault the whole incident is._

_She takes all the blame and Naruto's forever grateful even though he knows it's a lie. One day, he tells himself, one day I'll come to terms with everything. Until then, it's all denial. _

_Soon after the incident things start changing. Not just his relationship with the holder of the Nanabi, but with his perception of sexuality in general. _

_Even though he goes through puberty quite late, as a young child Naruto had always admired attractive women. Going through the duration of puberty in the company of two good-looking woman desensitizes him PMS, breasts, all manner of cosmetics and beauty treatment Tsuyu seems to be obsessed with, and women in general. _

_When he parts ways with Gaara and Yugito a few months after the 'incident,' he thinks he's seen it all. Unfortunately, after the first few weeks staying alone in a series of sleazy hotels and ryokan, Naruto is shocked to find himself quite interested in not only the opposite sex, but also the same. _

_After months, maybe a year, he comes to a conclusion that this is not some passing sickness and that there must be something horribly wrong with him. He's never heard of men liking other men before and his first reaction is that it must be the Kyuubi's fault. He's messed with his hormones making him lust after members of the same sex or something. _

_For a while, he gets lost in a large town in the Wind Country, getting drunk out of his mind and sleeping with a different woman every night. Finally, after a bad scrap with a local gang, Naruto gets out of there and goes back to visit Waka and Tsuyu. _

_Tsuyu can tell there is something wrong with him, but Naruto doesn't tell her anything. He can't stand the thought of any of them; Yugito, Gaara, even Waka, being disgusted with him, so he hides it and pretends nothing's wrong. He can't even look at Gaara for a while for fear of looking at him like _that_. _

_When Naruto turns eighteen, he realizes that mopping about it isn't going to change anything, and forces himself to just accept it. He doesn't like it, but he realizes that there's nothing he can do about it. _

_And life goes on. _

Chapter Six-

"This is boriiiiiiing!" Naruto whines, "And I'm hungry!"

Sasuke looks up at him from the map he was looking over in his futon and frowns, "Then go and get some food," he says without emotion.

They had just settled into to their rooms at about 6:30pm at an old ryokan on the northeastern side of the Fire Country and Sakura-chan had gotten her own room (not because the three of them had any sense of propriety, but because the old woman at the reception desk had been horrified at the prospect of all three of them sharing a room) leaving Naruto with the bastard.

"I don't have any money," Naruto says, rolling over onto his stomach for a better view of Sasuke's bare chest.

"That's your problem," Sasuke says.

"You're an asshole."

Sasuke disregards this.

It was funny, because initially, Naruto had thought that Sasuke hadn't changed at all. At least not compared to Sakura-chan. But now that he had spent more time with the man, he realizes that Sasuke had changed too, in his own subtle way. Naruto's past memories of Sasuke had all been of him and Sasuke battling for dominance and generally being assholes to try and get a reaction out of one another. Now, though… Sasuke seems more…passive, emotionless, empty, cold. Well, colder than he remembers him. It's kinda weird. It's like all the emotion had been sucked out of him. Though it doesn't prevent him from being incredibly sexy, if Naruto does say so himse-

"Hey, hey, where are you going?" Naruto asks when his eye candy gets up and walks across the tatami towards the door.

"To Sakura's room."

"Hey, can I come too?"

Sasuke gives him a look, and Naruto gapes for a second before catching himself. Are Sasuke and Sakura-chan…?

Naruto sniggers weakly, in attempt to distract himself from the disappointment welling up in his gut.

Sasuke gives him another look, while he slips on his shoes, but this one is of disgust.

"To discuss our plans for tomorrow," he says, enunciating each word carefully.

"Yeah, sure," Naruto mutters under his breath.

"What did you say?" Sasuke says harshly.

"Nothing, nothing," Naruto says, grabbing his own sandals and jamming them on, "Lead the way, asshole."

Sasuke gives him a suspicious look and Naruto follows him down two flights of stairs and knocks on door number 247.

"Who is it?" Sakura-chan asks from the other side of the door.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, it's me and Sasuke and we're here to-"

The door swings open revealing Sakura-chan, without her mask, looking irritated.

She also doesn't seem to be wearing a shirt. Or a bra. Or any kind of covering on her breasts whatsoever.

Naruto gapes for a second at her badly scarred chest and then wonders if she's going to try and murder him (the common reaction of women whom he'd caught naked, in his experience. And boy, does he have a lot of experience.)

"What do you want?" she asks, not perturbed in the slightest that's she half naked.

"Er…Umm…Plans for tomorrow?" Naruto says weakly.

She wordlessly turns around and Naruto enters her room, removing his shoes automatically.

"I don't want to get to close to Konoha," she says ruffling through her things that are strewn over a small section the floor, "It's dangerous for all of us."

"Er…why aren't you wearing a shirt?" Naruto asks carefully.

"Don't feel like it," she answers.

Naruto blinks. Oh well.

"Do we have any leads?" Naruto asks, flopping down on the floor comfortably, scratching his head.

Sakura-chan pulls out a map and places in it front of him, "I haven't heard anything interesting yet, but we just got here…Sasuke, what are you doing?"

Naruto turns around to see that Sasuke hasn't even entered the room yet, and is instead still standing in the doorway with a full-blown scowl on his face.

"Put. A. Shirt. On."

Naruto rolls his eyes, "Oh, don't be such a prude, asshole. It's just Sakura-chan!"

This surprisingly doesn't seem to change Sasuke's mind.

"At least close the door," Sakura-chan says, "Unless you want the entire ryokan to hear what we're saying."

Sasuke's scowl deepens, but shuts the door with a snap.

"Thank you," Sakura-chan says.

Sasuke does not take off his shoes, out sits down on the edge of the tatami, keeping his feet on the tile floor, and proceeds to look anywhere but at Sakura-chan.

"Wow," Naruto says, "No wonder you're in such a bad mood all the time. Aren't getting laid because you can't even _look_ at a naked girl."

Sasuke narrows his eyes and his hand strays to his side where Naruto knows his sword is hidden.

"Let's not kill each other please," Sakura-chan says, not even looking at them, but at the map in front of her.

"_Yeeeeah_, Sasuke," Naruto says smugly, sticking out his tongue in the black-haired man's direction.

"Do you plan to keep moving south?" Sasuke asks Sakura-chan, ignoring him.

"Unless we hear anything of interest that takes us elsewhere," she says, "I say we travel down through the east flank of the Fire Country and then into the Wind."

"Why Wind?" Naruto asks, thinking of Gaara.

"Akatsuki were last sighted there," Sakura says, and then at the look on Sasuke's face, "Six months ago, but we might be able to talk to the people who saw them."

"Right," Naruto says, already bored with this conversation, "Hey, Sakura-chan what are those necklaces for?"

Sakura blinks, and looks down at her own bare chest, "This was the Godaime's," she says, holding up the one with three stones as pendants, "And this is my engagement ring."

Naruto's cornflower blue eyes widen, "You're _married_?" he blurts out.

"Engaged to _be _married, yes," she says, absentmindedly rubbing her finger over the patterns on it. She does not mention that she is not engaged anymore.

Naruto gawks and looks instinctively at Sasuke, who looks vaguely curious all of the sudden.

"Oh, _no_, not to Sasuke," Sakura says in disgust, "No offense," she adds.

"None taken," Sasuke says, looking quite disgusted at the idea himself.

"Oooh! Who then?" Naruto asks, looking much more interested in this than where they plan to travel next.

"You don't know him," she answers shortly, wanting to get off this topic as soon as possible. She also does not mention that Sasuke does.

"Where is he now?" Naruto asks, looking around the room like he expects her fiancé to burst out from behind a screen.

"In Konoha," she says.

There is an awkward silence.

"Oh," Naruto says, looking disappointed, "Do you miss him?"

Sakura is so startled by the question that she is robbed of her speech for a few seconds and can only gape at him.

'Well, yes…" she says disconcertingly, trying to remain stoic.

"Hey, why do you wear it around your neck?" is Naruto's next question, "Aren't you supposed to wear it on your left ring finger? Or is that only wedding rings?"

"Engagement rings become wedding rings when you get married," Sakura tells him, "At least this one does. And I wear it around my neck because I don't want to lose it."

"Hee? How would you lose it?"

"Well, if my finger gets cut off in a batt-"

"Eww, that's gross!" Naruto says, sticking out his tongue again, "Don't talk about stuff like that."

Sasuke raises a disdainful eyebrow at the blond's outburst.

"And if I get my head cut off," Sakura continues, "I won't care what happens to the ring anyway."

"Hey, that kind of makes sense… Hey, Sakura-chan, how old were you when you got engaged?" he asks looking confused.

"Seventeen."

Naruto blinks in surprise, "That's kind of young, isn't it?"

"Well, we didn't plan to actually get married until I was twenty, it was just sort of a long engagement."

"Oh…" Naruto says with dawning comprehension, "Hey, am I invited to your wedding?"

Sakura snorts with laughter, "Yes, Naruto," she says, "You and Sasuke can be my flower girls."

Sasuke scowls.

* * *

After a while, they go down to eat dinner at the restaurant connected to the ryokan (yes, she put on a shirt.) Naruto flirts uproariously with their waitress, to both her and Sasuke's horror, and causes her to drop a whole a tray of soup on the floor. They relocate quickly and sit at the bar sipping hot sake and watch Naruto go through ten scoops of ice cream.

"I am not paying for that," Sasuke says flatly.

"Aww, yes you are, bastard, 'cause if you don't they'll throw us out."

"They'll throw _you_ out."

"I'll tell them it's your fault."

"Then I'll cut you into pieces and sell them on the black market to pay for this mess."

"Nah, you wouldn't, 'cause you'd have to get your prissy hands dirty-Fuck, put that down, I was kidding!"

There is a soft cough, and another bartender, who is at least twenty years younger that the one who served them previously, nervously tells them to please be more quiet or he will have to ask them to leave.

"Wow," Naruto says, giving a low whistle and craning his neck for a better view of the man as he walks away, "He's hot!"

Sakura chokes on her sake that she had slipped under her mask and pounds at her chest, coughing loudly. Sasuke turns his head to stare at the blond and Naruto flushes.

"What?" he says defensively, "It's true!"

Sakura doesn't like the way Sasuke is looking at Naruto.

"Oh, c'mon, Sakura-chan, you have to agree with me!"

"Er…no comment…"

Sakura _really_ doesn't like the way Sasuke is looking at Naruto.

"Oh, I forgot, you're engaged…"

Sakura _really_,_ really_ doesn't like the way Sasuke is looking at Naruto.

"Well," she says loudly, startling Sasuke out of his _let's not really go there _thoughts, "We'd better turn in for the night," she waves for the bills and gets off her stool, "You know, early morning tomorrow and all that…"

She pays quickly and drags the two of them back upstairs with her, very glad that she has her own room tonight.

She shuts the door to her own room, and leans her head against the door, listening unconsciously to the sounds of her two male teammates climbing the next two flights of stairs to their room.

"Oh, I could have lived without knowing that…" she mutters to herself.

In all truthfulness, she had suspected for some time now that Sasuke was gay. As a child, she had known, of course, that he practically ignored any girl who tried to flirt with him, but when she started traveling with him recently she could not help notice that his eyes wandered towards members of his own gender much more easily.

It isn't that she particularly cares, she thinks as she undresses, Sasuke is an adult and can make his own choices.

However, Naruto surprises her. Especially with all that innuendo and flirting with their waitress at the restaurant. She frowns and gets into the tiny shower. Could it be possible that Naruto is attracted to both women _and_ men? She's never heard of such a thing. But then again, this _is_ Naruto she's thinking about. He's always done things his way, ever since he was a child. Sakura rolls her eyes and smiles fondly as she applies the stinging solution to her scars. She just hopes whatever happens doesn't ruin their team dynamics. Gods know she can't afford Naruto and Sasuke at each other's throats _all _the time.

"_Heh, at each other's throats…" _the nasty voice inside of her says.

"_Oh, shut up…"_ Sakura thinks, squeezes her eyes shut and decides to skip reading and go to bed immediately.

If she loses any sleep over this, she's going to be pissed.

* * *

"Goddammit, Sasuke, I forgot my towel, can you hand it to me?" Naruto yells from the shower.

"No," Sasuke replies from his position on his stomach under the blankets of his futon, and continues to look through his worn Bingo Book, contemplating how to get an updated copy.

"You fucking asshole! Can't you just be nice just this once? I promise it won't ruin you're "I'm a bastard" look, _belieeeeeve_ me."

"Get it yourself."

"I would, Sasuke-_chan_, but that would involve scarring your virgin eyes and," Sasuke drew a kunai, "if you can't handle _Sakura-chan _naked, then there's no way-Shit, you bastard, are you trying to castrate me?" he hollers.

"Overcompensating for something?" Sasuke asks, a faint smirk on his features, "I'll bet you there's nothing there to cut off."

"Look who's talking Mr. 'I don't have a dick!'

"Surprisingly enough, I'm still not giving you a towel."

"ARGH! FUCK YOU!"

"Keep it down, moron," Sasuke says flippantly, turning a few pages, "Just stay in there, if you're so embarrassed. I certainly don't mind."

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Considering you're still in the shower, I highly doubt that."

"You know what? Fine! If you wanna catch me naked so badly, then I'm not going to stop you!"

Sasuke opens his mouth to say that he certainly does _not_ what to see Naruto naked, when Naruto stumbles out of the small bathroom as such.

"You know," Sasuke says, trying very _hard_ not to stare at Naruto's crotch, "You could have just put your old clothes on, instead of coming out here stark naked."

"But then, they would've gotten all wet," Naruto complains, bending down to grab his towel and ryokan yukata, innocent of the effect it was having on his black-haired companion.

"Naruto," Sasuke says very slowly, "You have five seconds to get that yukata on, or I _will_ castrate you."

"Heh, you're just jealous that I'm sooo much bigger than you," Naruto says pointing at his crotch lewdly.

Sasuke gives him the dirtiest look he can muster and then looks down and focuses on the book again.

Really, he tells himself, Naruto isn't _that_ attractive. Sasuke's slept with better-looking men. Sure, he's not painful to look at, but he certainly isn't the kind that's worth jumping. Sakura would not approve either, which would cause more problems, anyway. Though maybe it's not absolutely insane that Naruto seems slightly appealing. After all, he hasn't slept with anyone for months, not since he started traveling with Sakura.

That must be it, he thinks rationally, just simple out-of-control sex drive. He needs to find a large city soon and release some tension, otherwise he'll do something stupid.

Sasuke finds the more realistically he thinks about sex, the easier it is to move on to more worthwhile things. Like finding Itachi's whereabouts.

Sasuke yawns, closes his book, turns off the lights despite Naruto's protests, and goes to sleep.

The next morning they check out of the ryokan and continue south. Naruto soon forgets to be mad at him and spends pretty much the whole day in an overly cheerful mood that Sasuke absolutely hates. Sakura keeps looking at him suspiciously and Sasuke really has no clue what he's done to deserve it.

They enter into the deepest wooded part of Konoha where there are hardly any villages. Or anything for that matter. Sakura and himself find a good spot to spend the night, while Naruto complains about everything from the color of the tree's bark to the way Sasuke's hair stands in the back. And of course, Sasuke's choice of clothing.

"Seriously, though," Naruto is saying while Sakura feeds the fire and Sasuke skins some fish they caught, "What kind of ninja wears a fucking skirt? Or whatever it is, 'cause that's what it looks like."

"It's not a skirt," Sasuke tells him, because it's not.

"Well, it looks like it." Naruto replies intelligently.

"If you have less IQ points than fingers."

"What does that supposed to mean? Is that some clever way of insulting me that I don't understand?"

"Yes."

"Gods, you're so annoy-Hey, what kind of fish is that anyway?"

"Bass," Sakura tells him.

"Sounds gross."

Sasuke restrains himself from rolling his eyes and pierces the fish with sharpened stick and puts them out to cook.

"That's kind of gross, too."

"You don't have to eat it if you don't want to," Sakura says, pulling out some spices from out of her bag.

"Nah, I'm hungry, and besides, it smells good."

The upper corners of Sakura's mouth twitched and Sasuke scowls. He really doesn't think anything whatsoever is funny.

"Hey, it looks ready, can we-" Naruto starts, reaching out.

"No. Don't touch it."

"Geez, okay, okay, you don't have to be such a bastard about it."

"Stop talking and maybe it'll happen."

"Fuck you."

"Is that an offer?" Sasuke says without thinking.

Sakura stiffens and looks warningly at him.

Naruto goes bright red, stares at him for a second, and then goes even redder.

Sasuke decides he really needs to get laid and stop doing idiotic things like hitting on the local idiot.

"What?" Naruto blurts out.

"Nothing," Sasuke says, cursing his own stupidity, "Drop it."

"No, but seriously, did you just-"

And when the Konoha ANBU drop in at this point, Sasuke can't help but feel relieved.

**A/N: ! I'm evil, I know. Anyway, for those of you that don't know, a 'ryokan' (**旅館)** is a traditionally styled hotel (aka tatami, futon, screen doors…etc.) **

**And, yes, the slashyness has started. Beware. I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but I really wanted the ending to be here. So thank my awesome beta Sleeping Soundly and please review!**


	7. Not Drunk Enough

**A/N: Warning: There is a lime at the end of this chapter. If that bothers you I suggest you skip it. **

_"What is this, Sakura?" _

_She curses and snatches the form away from him, "Nothing," _

_"That's an ANBU application form," Kakashi says accusingly, "I told you already, you're not suited for that type of work!"_

_She laughs at him, "Not suited? Do me a favor, _sensei_, go look up my last twenty or so mission reports." She turns around and walks out of the hospital, with a strange smirk on her face._

_After both of her teammates disappear and she becomes the apprentice of Tsunade-sama, Sakura works harder than she's ever worked in her life. Less than a year later she passes the Chuunin Exam and at sixteen she becomes a Jounin, a feat no one else in her graduating class at the academy accomplishes. In fact, the only other person she knew beforehand who passes is Hyuuga Neji. Now, less than six months later, she is already applying to join the ANBU. _

_People aren't really sure what to think of her now. Before she wised up, she was that Haruno girl; a mediocre ninja at best and spent most of her time rather obviously flirting with her teammate Uchiha Sasuke and fighting with Yamanaka Ino. _

_Now, they are…well, rather scared of her. No one, not even Sakura herself could have predicted such a sudden change in personality. People in her graduation class steer away from her and even her own parents are slightly wary. Tsunade-sama is the only one who understands her, which, strangely enough, suits Sakura just fine. _

_A few weeks after the incident with her old sensei, Sakura receives word that she has been all but accepted into the ANBU; all she needs to do is pass a few tests and answer a few questions. _

_The ANBU is run a lot differently than the rest of the shinobi divisions. The first thing she is told when she is inducted is that the second she dons her tiger mask and white vest for a mission she is no longer Haruno Sakura. Instead she is given a number and letter, B756, to be exact. The number signifies that she is the 756__th__ ninja to join the ANBU. The 'B' is her rank out of the two different divisions in the ANBU. The A's are captains. The rumors go that the system of ranking missions initially came from the A and B divisions of the ANBU. They call her B756; her new captain, A689, who wears a wolf mask, and her two teammates B734 and B747 who wear a jackal and a snake mask. Even her captain doesn't know who she truly is._

_It is the tattoo on her upper arm that bothers her more than the inhumanity of the entire affair. She dislikes there being always physical evidence of her allegiance to Konoha, when it truly died out more than a year ago. Sometimes she thinks that that one person and Tsunade-sama are the only reasons she is still here. _

_It isn't that she doesn't love her parents. She does. They were the best they could've ever been and she's grateful for that. She just can't live with them anymore. Not now that there is blood on her hands._

_Tsunade-sama is surprised by the induction ceremony. Sakura is told that the ANBU was a lot more open and less strict when Tsunade-sama first joined. In fact, members regularly took of their masks in front of not only their teammates but the general public as well. Tsunade-sama talks nostalgically of how she, Jiraiya-sama, and Orochimaru were all put on the same team when they first joins. _

_Sakura prefers the way it is now, but she doesn't tell Tsunade-sama that. It is easier that way._

_Right off the bat her teammates and captain are wary of her. Well, after she crushes their first target's skull anyway. _

_Two months after her first mission, A689, her captain, goes insane. They drag him off to a mental institution. It is then that Sakura first wonders why she is not more affected by the disgusting job she does. Maybe it's because she's twisted. Or maybe it's because she's in love. Sakura wonders if she wants to know. _

_Sakura is made captain of her squad. Her two teammates are furious, she can tell. She is also given the newest recruit, B757, a young woman who is also slightly scared of her. Not that that' s anything new. She finds out later that this is done specifically to test if she could handle the pressure. She does. _

_During missions, Sakura is vicious. After six months of being a captain she can barely remember a mission in which the objective is not to kill or capture. She finds that if she is as cruel and sadistic as possible, she can be a nicer person outside of missions. She even renews her friendship with Ino and some of the people from her graduating class. Although they do not know she is in ANBU, they can guess. She finds that she can be a more affectionate, loving girlfriend. All is good. The missions she is assigned go successfully. _

_In her months as an ANBU captain she only refuses one mission. _

_As long as she keeps word of her merciless side from the four people most important to her: Tsunade-sama, her mother and father, and, as of a week ago, her fiancé, everything will be fine. _

_Kakashi does not trust her. Whenever they cross paths and she is not in uniform, she can feel his wary stare. He thinks she is weak and will break like her foolish captain. Sakura is almost insulted. _

_However, hiding her slightly darker side does not last for long. Shortly after she turns seventeen she is called to Tsunade-sama's office to find her shishou practically steaming with anger._

"_This is unacceptable!" the blonde woman shouts, slamming her fist onto her desk. Sakura is glad it is reinforced, "This is too much! What were you thinking?"_

"_What did I do wrong, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asks neutrally, wondering why she feels so bare without her mask, "I was led to understand that the objective of the mission was the capture of a certain missing-nin from th-"_

"_BULLSHIT!" Tsunade yells, slamming her fist against her desk, breaking it. Sakura winces, "You cut off his arm!"_

"_He was not cooperating," Sakura replies, "According to the Code of Conduct for ANBU, extreme measures are acceptable if the target does not-"_

"_Fuck that!" her shishou yells, "That's not all! I've been hearing rumors about your…your _Conduct _during missions that I don't like! As your Hokage, I _demand _that you stop this disgusting behavior!"_

_Sakura's tone turns ugly, "As you wish, Hokage-sama."_

_Tsunade-sama's face falters, "Sakura…" she says, "Please understand. You don't know what doing things like that can turn you into…"_

_Sakura's face softens at the older woman's obvious distress, "All right," she says reluctantly. She turns around to leave, but Tsunade-sama calls her back._

"_Wait, Sakura," she says._

_Sakura turns around and looks at her expectantly._

"_Be careful."_

_Sakura smiles, "Okay."_

"_What did she want?" her fiancé asks when she returns home._

_She wraps her arms around his waist and presses her face into his shoulder._

"_Sakura-san?" he says uncertainly, "Are you alright? What-"_

"_It's nothing," she says, "I'm just glad to be home."_

_It's strange, for all her violence, she has actually only physically killed nine people. It scares her, the anticipation of a double-digit. _

_And then, only weeks later, tragedy strikes. _

Chapter Seven-

"What should we do with them?" Naruto asks, wiping some stray blood off his cheek.

The four ANBU are tied to a tree with wire, courtesy of Sasuke, cursing and struggling. Sakura knows one of them by her mask. The woman has not recognized her as her former captain, however.

'I don't care," Sakura says, "Kill them if you like."

The ANBU go rigid and Naruto looks horrified. Sasuke looks strangely at her, but makes no comment.

"Wha-What? Kill them?" Naruto exclaims, "We can't do _that _Sakura-chan!"

"They tried to kill us," Sasuke states, but he looks oddly hesitant.

"You bastards," the captain chokes out, "Release us or I'll-"

"Do what?" Sakura asks in amusement, "You can't even recognize an old comrade, can't you?" she focuses solely on her former teammate, "B757."

The woman stiffens, "How did you know th-" then she realizes it, "Ta-Taishou?"

Sakura smiles disarmingly at the woman, her mask hanging loosely in her hand as it had been since before the short fight started. She raises a kunai to her former teammates neck.

"And if I wanted to," she whispers, "I could slit your throat."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cries, obviously disturbed.

"It's funny how things turn out, isn't it?" Sakura muses as if Naruto hadn't spoken.

"Sakura," Sasuke says warningly.

She removes the blade from B757's throat and pockets it.

"Let's go," she says and they leave the struggling ANBU behind.

"You weren't _really _going to kill her, were you Sakura-chan?" Naruto asks her worriedly once they're out of earshot.

"No," Sakura says emotionlessly.

"Oh, good," Naruto says cheerfully, completely ignoring the fact that they just could've been all killed.

Sasuke seems relieved that Naruto has forgot their exchange beforehand, Sakura notices with amusement.

Somehow, things seem to change after that. Sasuke seems more wary of her and Naruto often casts looks that question her sanity when he thinks she isn't looking. However, the change may have a lot to do with the _looks _they keep sending each other. The kind of look that makes Sakura want to _run away _and _never come back_.

So when it happens, she's not all too surprised.

That doesn't stop it from being disturbing, though.

* * *

"Man," Naruto says as they check into their newest inn, "I wanna get drunk."

Sasuke raises an eyebrow and makes a disgusted face. How incredibly typical.

"Nee, Sasuke," suddenly Naruto is very close and Sasuke jerks back in annoyance, "Where do you get good sake around here?"

"How should I know, you idiot," Sasuke says, struggling against the heat rising in his cheeks.

Naruto looks at him unconvincingly for a few seconds and then draws back, "Humph, well, you don't have to be an asshole about it."

This is the last straw for Sasuke and he shoots Naruto a glare, stands up, and walks out of the room.

"Hey, asshole, we're you goin-ah, man, damn, bastard. What the hell did I ever do to get paired up with your pasty ass…"

Stupid, idiot, of all people that utter _moron. _How perfectly ironic and completely fucked up. What had Sasuke ever done to deserve lusting after that…that idiot. He walks to the other side of the hallway and knocks on Sakura's door.

"Who is it?"

"Can I borrow your map?" Sasuke asks without answering her question.

The door opens and Sasuke braces himself; just in case she isn't wearing a shirt. Fortunately, she is and she rummages around her bag, pulling out money, weapons, clothes, more weapons, and a small yellow bottle that she carries around for reasons Sasuke doesn't know and doesn't care.

"Here," she says, tossing it to him, "Just be careful with it. It's old."

Sasuke gives her a dirty look. As if _he _couldn't be trusted with something like a piece of paper. That was more of Naruto's forte.

When he returns to the room Naruto is gone. Sasuke truly isn't sure whether he should be happy or worried at this fact. He decides to make use of his free time, studies the map and a consults a few books on the different regions of the Wind Country, their next destination. After a few hours, Naruto still hasn't returned, and Sasuke stretches and takes a shower. When he returns to the room, Naruto has returned, drunker than Sasuke has ever seen him (which is saying a lot) with a blush on his face that Sasuke is horrified to find quite endearing. Sasuke contemplates jumping right back into the shower and turning the knob to very, very, _cold. _

"Heyyy, Sasuke!" Naruto says giggling, and grabs Sasuke by the arm and pulls him down into the chair next to him, "Here have some."

"Let go. Now."

Naruto makes a face and leans close again. If Sasuke hadn't known better he would've sworn Naruto was doing this on purpose.

"Heyyy, y'know, from this angle you kinda look like a girl."

Sasuke punches him. Hard.

"Owwww! What the hell was that, you ba-asshole…heheh, basshole…"

Sasuke gets to his feet in disgust. Alright, that settles it. He's going out, right now and getting laid. Then everything will be fine.

"Sasukeeeeh! Where are you going…?"

"Out," he says shortly.

"Pusssyyy," Naruto giggles, "What can't take your alcohol like a man?"

Sasuke snorts, "What? In comparison to you? Please."

Naruto's grin turns feral, "Prove it."

Anger boils to the forefront of Sasuke's mind, "Done," he says viciously grabbing the bottle.

He's going to regret this.

"You lose," Sasuke says a few hours later, leaning his forehead against the top of the wooden table.

"Do not," Naruto mumbles, head thrown bad almost gracefully against his chair, exposing his perfect tan neck that Sasuke wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth into.

Sasuke let out an incoherent groan at this thought and Naruto lets out a snicker.

"So…" Naruto said articulately, well, at least for the amount of sake he had consumed, "Have you ever done it?"

"What?" Sasuke managed to say, making a grab for the bottle of sake for the hundredth time, at least.

Naruto giggles, an irritating sound, "You know, it. Sex."

Sasuke snorts, "None 'a your business." Stupid blond and his stupid questions.

Naruto laughs again, "Yeah, the first time, like, totally sucked. Probably 'cause I was like drunk and don' remember," he makes a face, "And it was with Tsuyu! Ughh!"

Sasuke does not know or want to know who 'Tsuyu' is. He just wants Naruto in his bed _right now_.

"So c'mon, 'fess up!"

"Orochimaru," Sasuke mumbles.

There was an awkward pause. Then…

"WHAT!"

Sasuke scowls up at him, "Shut up," he says, not altogether sure if it's because Naruto is loud or how he's reacting.

"B-But are you saying," Naruto looks horrified, "Seriously, I mean, 'cause-"

"I was thirteen," Sasuke says, closing his eyes and letting out a soft snort of disgust.

"Oh, did he…like…" Naruto says hesitantly and then stops.

Another awkward silence follows.

Naruto has a strange look on his face.

"What?" Sasuke barks out after a few seconds that Naruto doesn't speak.

Suddenly Naruto's eyes close and he keels over into Sasuke's lap. Sasuke goes rigid and stares down at the blond hair for a second.

Sasuke isn't stupid. Naruto's arm have wrapped a little too nicely around his waist for him really to be asleep

Sasuke is definitely not drunk enough for Naruto to be hugging him. And with this thought in mind, he makes for the bottle.

* * *

"Hey…Sasuke?" Naruto says, a few minutes later, his face still pressed into Sasuke's stomach, "I know this might be awkward and you can kill me if you want to, but…how does that even work?"

"How does what work?" Sasuke says in irritation and Naruto frowns. Sasuke is way too coherent and it's hurting his brain.

"You know," Naruto is blushing, and is glad that Sasuke can't see his face "Like sex-"

"You don't know how _sex _wor-"

"With guys!" Naruto says very loudly, giving the man above him a tentative look, "I mean, a guy doesn't have a…so…"

Sasuke looks disgustedly down at him and with a jolt Naruto wonders if he's gone too far and Sasuke is going to rip out his eyeballs.

"Asshole," Sasuke says.

"Hey, what the hell is that supposed to…wait…really?"

Naruto stares at him and suddenly realizes his proximity to the other man's…yeah, you know… He jerks back and immediately feels lightheaded, misses his chair and falls flat on his ass.

"You are an idiot," Sasuke informs him, but Naruto's too wound up in what he just said to notice.

"B-But that's _nasty!_" Naruto cries, completely missing Sasuke's expression as he says this, "Like, what if you, like," he lowers his voice, "had to go to the bathroom. I mean, blah! Ew!"

"Don't be disgusting," is Sasuke's reply, giving him that haughty look that sends shivers down his spine.

"And wouldn't that hurt, you know," Naruto continues, trying _very, very_ hard not to think of Sasuke lounging against the back of his chair just like he is now except without clothes on, "I mean, your ass isn't exactly made for-"

"Naruto," Sasuke says, "Shut up."

Naruto does. He decides that there's no use in talking to the asshole-Naruto tries not to read into his choice of wording- about such things and with some difficulty hauls himself back into his seat again.

"Gimme the bottle," Naruto demands. Sasuke raises an elegant eyebrow at this but tosses it to him anyway. However, Naruto's reflexes are off just a _wee_ bit and he nearly misses it and has to juggle it around for a bit.

Sasuke lets out an uncharacteristic snigger. Naruto looks up, smiling embarrassedly. At the look on Sasuke's face his smile disappears.

His dark-haired friend, teammate, whatever, has an unholy smirk on his attractive face, his dark eyes trained on him. Suddenly, Sasuke is all smooth pale skin, long dark eyelashes, thick hair, and glittering black eyes. Naruto feels himself swallow and is horrified to find all the blood that initially rushed to his cheeks has gone somewhere_ else _entirely.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Oh no, this is _not _happening. Naruto suppresses a scream of frustration and bring his knees up to his chest and looks anywhere in the room but at Sasuke. Suddenly, Sasuke is right there, in his face, smirking down at him.

"Hey, wha-wha-what do you think you're-" Sasuke puts his hand on his knee and Naruto loses all sense of anything whatsoever that he had in the first place.

However, when Sasuke forces his knee down and subsequently his legs, completely ruining the whole point Naruto had put them there in the _first _place he is forced to speak up.

Naruto lets out a squeak. Not even a masculine one.

"What the hell-" Suddenly there is delicious pressure on his thighs and groin and it takes Naruto a few seconds to realize that Sasuke is practically sitting in his lap.

Sasuke is still smirking at him and leans closer, draping his arms (well-defined, Naruto can't help noticing) over his shoulders. Fucking drapes them.

"_Like a curtain_," Naruto thinks dazedly.

"So…" Sasuke says conversationally, though his voice is barely above a deep whisper, "Are you up for it?"

His expression grows mischievous, eyes still glittering, and he leans in closer so that their noses are touching. Somehow, Naruto's arms end up wrapped tightly around his waist…again.

"Th-That's really not a problem," Naruto says weakly, trying for humor.

Sasuke looks at him coolly and for a second Naruto is terrified that he's going to leave.

But Sasuke just leans down, just as cool as you please, and presses his lips against Naruto's neck.

"Shit!" Naruto groans, digging his nails into Sasuke's clothed back. He pants, throwing his head back and groans again, barely knowing what Sasuke is doing. All he registers is that it feels so good, especially when he sort of scrapes his teeth against-oh, fuck, _yes_, just like that.

Sasuke lets out another dry snigger and for some reason it infuriates him. Naruto reaches up and grabs the back of his neck, propelling him forward and presses their lips clumsily together. Sasuke seems surprised for some reason, but doesn't protest. Naruto lets out a feral growl, and pushes one hand through Sasuke's hair and the other up his shirt. Sasuke snarls and smashes against Naruto, forcing the chair back against the wall. Naruto pinches his nipple, causing him to hiss out. Then Sasuke grinds his hips against his and Naruto tears his mouth from his and moans. The corners of Sasuke's pretty month lift and Naruto pulls him close again, their lips mere centimeters apart.

"Asshole," Naruto says, thumb splayed against the side of the other man's cheek possessively.

This appears to annoy Sasuke. He tosses his head out of Naruto's grip and digs his nails into Naruto's bicep. Naruto retaliates by throwing the man off him. Sasuke hisses and he is barely able to keep his balance. Naruto gets shakily off the chair and goes in for the kill. He makes for Sasuke, who throws a punch at him. Naruto grabs his arm and all but tosses him onto the bed. Sasuke yanks him down on top of him, smashing his mouth against his and pushing his hips up insistently.

"Fucking idiot," he snarls, pushing up his shirt and closes his mouth over Naruto's nipple. Naruto yelps and rakes his nails down Sasuke's back, eager to feel skin.

"Take your shirt off," Naruto moans after several failed attempts to do it for him. Sasuke rolls his eyes, pulls off his shirt, practically rips Naruto's in half removing it, and then wraps a leg around Naruto hips. Naruto groans, pressing Sasuke plumb against the bed, sticking his tongue down his throat. Sasuke takes the opportunity to push a knee in between his thighs and rubs until Naruto is panting for breath. He moans and bites into the dark-haired man's pulse point. Sasuke actually cries out and it fills Naruto with delight.

"Enjoying yourself?" he snickers down at him.

"Shut up," Sasuke snarls up at him, fisting the nape of his neck and plundering his mouth. He moans and smoothes his hands down Sasuke's pale, perfect skin and nips at his left ear, breathing hotly into it.

It is at this point that Sakura-chan walks in.

"Will you two stop fighting for one second!" she yells, obviously, not in a good mood, though he can't really tell because she's wearing that creepy mask, "You're bothering the entire flo…" she trails off and Naruto can only look helplessly over his shoulder.

Naruto is definitely not drunk enough for Sakura-chan to be walking in on he and Sasuke making out.

"Lock the fucking door!" she yells, and as the door slams, Sasuke drags him back down again.

* * *

"What the fuck!" Sakura snarls, scaring the few people who had opened their doors to see what all the fuss was, "Men! So typical! Thinking of nothing else, but…"

She stomps up over to her room and slams the door behind her and opens her bag and pulls out a bottle of sake.

Sakura is definitely not drunk enough for her two teammates to be making out. Fortunately, soon, she will be.

**A/N: Argh…awkward chapter. I know, I can't write limes to save my life. Anyway, here is the slash…**

**About the first part of this chapter; Sakura turned out way creepier than I expected her to be. And warning: it will only get worse. And I will be drawing out what exactly happened in Konoha a lot longer (I'm evil, I know,) so please don't kill me! **

**Also, in my profile there's a section called Fic Status****. Since I practically live on this site, you can see how close I am to updating. If you've read any of my other fics you might have noticed that for TPWB it's been up all along, but I keep forgetting to mention it here… **

**There is also a poll on my profile (again, has been up for ages,) so please check it out. **

**And my beta is awesome and please review!**


	8. Demonstrations

_It is more the humiliation of it all than the actual pain that is the worst. Sasuke is fifteen before he realizes that the shame will never leave him. _

_A year passes and Orochimaru appears to get bored of him, though Sasuke suspects that he gets too old for his taste. _

_At fourteen, he begins to plan his escape and it is a milestone for him when he realizes that he does not plan to leave Orochimaru alive. After all, revenge is his specialty. _

_And while the irony of actually _taking_ Orochimaru _in _to his body disgusts him, the benefits are worth it. Sometimes Sasuke wonders if his whole existence has become the act of selling his soul, body, pride; for a reward. _

_It only takes him a few months after Orochimaru's death to realize that he has grown, but women in the sexual sense still do not appeal to him. For a while, he wonders if Orochimaru somehow tainted him, but dismisses the idea. He knows for a fact that gender did not matter to the Snake Sannin. _

_It is also untrue that he has never heard of homosexuality, though only in hushed voices with undisguised disgust. It isn't until he begins to frequent the bad parts of cities that he recognizes it in people besides himself._

_He is sitting at a bar, finishing a last cup of sake, planning to head upstairs and get an early start the next morning, when the sandy haired man slides into the stool next to him. He orders the same brand of sake as Sasuke is drinking and after a few sips he attempts to engage Sasuke in small talk that has an obvious ulterior motive. And because Sasuke is slightly tipsy he doesn't completely ignore the man._

"_You staying here tonight?" the man asks him, eyeing his thighs in a way that might have made Sasuke uncomfortable if he was more aware._

_And when the light-haired man asks Sasuke to sleep with him, Sasuke agrees because he has nothing better to do. _

_It is much better than he expected it to be, and Sasuke almost finds it relaxing. He will try to remember the experience the next time he is frustrated and on edge. _

"_How long will you be in town?" the man who's name he still does not know asks the morning after, lighting a cigarette and lounging comfortably in the futon. _

"_I'm leaving in a few hours," Sasuke responds, pulling on his pants and scanning the tatami for his shirt._

"_What a shame," he replies as if he lost a few ryo, "Well, if you're ever are in town again, don't hesitate to call on me," he says with a wink._

_Sasuke merely grunts and leaves the room, pulling on his sandals as he goes. _

_It becomes a sort of habit after that night. Sex, Sasuke finds, helps him forget things he'd rather not remember and becomes a stress reliever in ways that he would have never considered. _

_The only thing that really bothers him is the knowledge that his parents would not have approved. But as the years go by, even that concept seems to fade away, along with everything else, and Sasuke can't even remember how many men have slept in his bed. But, like most things in his life, they are a means to an end and nothing more. Sasuke cannot afford anything else. _

_Because he will never escape Itachi's shadow unless he cuts him down, and that's really all that matters to him at this point. _

Chapter Eight-

Sasuke opens his eyes and then immediately closes them at the sting of sunlight that has flooded into their room.

"_Hangover," _he concludes and massages his temples trying to ignore the dull throb in his head and remember what happened the night before.

However, before this thought can run its logical course, a sleepy groan breaks the silence and Sasuke's eyes snap open to see Naruto, buried under the covers on the other side of the bed. It is also at this point that Sasuke realizes that he is shirtless, his pants have disappeared, and there's an uncomfortable stickiness in his boxer shorts. Sasuke squeezes his eyes shut again and tries to think of the best thing to do, only, of course, to be interrupted again.

"Sasukeee?" Naruto groans out, looking blearily up at him, "What the hell are you doing he…" he trails off and Sasuke can almost hear his brain at work.

"I'm going to take a shower," Sasuke mutters, grabbing a towel and exits the room, heading for the communal bathroom. Anything to get away from that horrified look on Naruto's face.

He locks the door, strips off his soiled underwear, and scrubs himself until his skin is raw. This is not good. He knew, dammit, when he first started this that doing _anything_ with Naruto was not an option if he wanted to keep up this 'Team Seven' façade.

"_This is all his fault," _he thinks angrily, scrubbing his hair with the cheap shampoo that the inn supplies, _"Him and his stupid drinking obsession." _

And judging by the fact it is already noon and Sakura has yet to knock on their door, _she _knows about it as well.

Their is a knock on the door and Sasuke ignores it. Whoever they are, they will just have to wait; screw the fact that it's a communal bathroom.

"You bastard! Open the door! You can't just lock this!"

"Go away," Sasuke says in a slightly raised voice to make sure Naruto can hear him plainly over the running water. He knows if he lets Naruto in, the blond will probably want to _talk _about whatever they did the night before and Sasuke can pretty much guarantee that that will not end well.

"What the hell? So you fucking _seduce _me and then just go back to pretending nothing happened?" Naruto sounds angry and _hurt_ and this is the last straw for Sasuke. He turns off the shower, gets out, and wrenches the door open to Naruto's stupid face.

"I did _not _seduce you," he says calmly, though on the inside he wants to strangle him for being such a _moron_.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, Naruto's not really listening, but instead staring unabashedly at his groin. It is at this point that Sasuke realizes that his towel is sitting folded neatly on the floor instead of around his waist.

"Heyyyyy, shit, you're well-endowed," Naruto says with a mischievous grin.

Sasuke slams the door in his face.

* * *

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto whines, "Open the door, I need to talk to you!"

There is no answer.

"Sakura-chaaaaan! Sasuke won't talk to me."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Sakura-chan says sarcastically from behind the door.

"It wasn't _my _fault! We were drunk! He came on to _me_, you know! I sure as hell wasn't the one who _molested _his neck and shoved my hand down his pant- er…well, not at first, but that was because-"

The door opens, Sakura-chan grabs the collar of his shirt, and pulls him close.

"Not another word," she breathes and Naruto nods. He almost forgot how scary she was. Almost.

She turns around, but Naruto manages to slip into her room before she slams the door.

"What do you want?" she asks dully.

"Help me!" Naruto pleads, "He won't talk to me!"

"Why do you care if he doesn't talks to you?" she mutters under her breath, but Naruto hears anyway.

"Well, 'cause, I mean, it's be bad for teamwork and shit…"

She raises a pink eyebrow.

"Oh, fine!" Naruto says, his cheeks hot, "I like him."

"You and the rest of the female population…"

Naruto frowns for a second at this and then smirks, "But Sasuke doesn't _like _girls!"

"Why are you talking to me about this again?"

"Because you have to help me!" Naruto sniffs, "He won't even talk to me…" he repeats miserably.

She sighs, "Do you have any inkling _why_?"

"Err…'cause I called him well-endowed…?" he tries.

Sakura-chan looks at him in confusion.

"You know," he says, "It means you have a big dic-"

"I know what it means, Naruto," she says, looking disturbed, "Why the hell did you tell him that?"

"'Cause it's true…?"

Sakura-chan lets her head fall into her hands and groans.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asks, bewildered. Was she sick or something?

"I'm fine," she mumbles and then sits up again, "Look, Sasuke's probably mad because he got drunk and did…you apparently."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto says horrified, "We didn't, I mean, he didn't like _do-_"

"You two didn't have anal sex or you are completely innocent and therefore what I accidentally stumbled upon last night was an evil ploy of Akatsuki?" Sakura-chan asks in an amused tone.

"Yes!" Naruto gasps, "I mean, no! To the last one!"

He pauses, "And anyway, why would he be mad if we like…" he trails off, hoping she gets the message.

"If you did what?" Sakura-chan asks innocently.

"You know what I mean!"

"I don't know, Naruto. What do you mean?"

"You-you," Naruto stutters out, scrunching up his face.

"You know, for someone who did what you did last night, you're incredibly embarrassed."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shrieks, "You-You're a pervert!"

She frowns, "I was merely making an observation."

Naruto snorts, "Yeah, a _perverted _observation. Will you answer my question now?"

"Naruto," she says, "Sasuke's all about control, right?"

Naruto nods impatiently, waiting for her to get on with it.

"So, he got drunk and he did something I guess he didn't want to do."

"So…" Naruto says uncertainly, "It was just a drunken…thing?"

Why does everything have to be like this? With Tsuyu and now Sasuke, whom he actually likes? Is there something wrong with him? Or does this happen to everyone that drinks as much as he does?

* * *

Sakura sees the disappointed look on Naruto's face and sighs. They do _not _need this right now. She has enough on her plate than to be dealing with this kind of soap opera-like drama.

"Look, Naruto," she says awkwardly, "I really can't speak for Sasuke about that …stuff. I'm really just guessing. So, don't…give up hope," she cringes at the cheesiness of the statement and awkwardness at giving Naruto, of all people, love advice.

Naruto blinks up at her, "But you're a _girl_! Aren't you supposed to know these things?"

Sakura merely rolls her eyes, "Let's get breakfast, shall we?"

These, apparently, are the magic words and Naruto grins that stupid grin and she is dragged off to find someplace that sells ramen before she can say a word.

"Do you eat anything else _besides _ramen?" she asks him after his finishes his third bowl.

"Sometimes," he says, swallowing a large amount of noodles, "But if I can find ramen, there's no way I'm eating anything else."

Sakura snorts, "It's a wonder you haven't died of a heart-attack yet."

"What?" Naruto says in confusion, "Ramen gives you heart-attacks?"

"Ramen is very salty," she instructs, "And it's bad for your hea-"

"Ramen isn't salty," Naruto says, waving his chopsticks at her, "It's only salty if you put salt in it!"

Sakura gives up. Naruto isn't in any danger anyway, with the Kyuubi's healing prowess.

"So what have you been doing anyway?" Sakura asks sadly, "All these years. Sampling the ramen of the world?"

"Yup," Naruto says, completely straight-faced, "Basically."

Sakura chokes on her cup of green tea and pounds on her chest.

"I was totally joking, you know," Naruto says, looking up at her in confusion.

"I hate you," Sakura mutters.

"No you don't! Don't be so mean, Sakura-_chan_!"

Sakura inwardly groans and wonders what the hell Sasuke sees in the blond idiot. Then she regrets going there at all.

"You never did tell me what I'm supposed to do," Naruto hisses as they return to their inn an hour or so later.

"Just talk to him," Sakura mutters, not wanting to admit that she has no idea what will help Naruto 'court' Sasuke or whatever he wants to do.

"Fine, fine," Naruto says impatiently, and Sakura resists the urge to throw herself out the window. Why is this happening now? Scratch that. Why is this happening at all?

As they reach his door she takes her leave and makes a beeline for her own room, closing the door behind her.

There are loud voices (voice really, courtesy of Naruto, of course) at first, and then the dull sound of something being broken against the wall. Sakura groans.

"Morons," she grumbles, "Utter, utter morons."

After she hears a few more things being broken, everything goes quiet, something Sakura find more disturbing than the noise. They could have knocked each other out, or left the room, but Sakura knows them better than that.

She's a bit…jealous, actually. Not the usual reason a woman would be jealous, but jealous nonetheless. It makes her….remember things that seemed to happen a lifetime ago and she feels a bit melancholy. She misses him, of course. It's not hard for her to admit it. For some reason, Naruto and his stupid crush remind her of the person that would have been her husband if things had turned out a little differently and she feels sad just thinking about him. He hates her now, of course. He must, for she betrayed her village, her _country, _her home.

And in a way, by leaving, she betrayed him.

* * *

"Let go of me," Sasuke says. He is tired and worn out and while Naruto's very good with his hands, at the moment he wants them off him.

"No," the aforementioned moron mumbles into his shoulder. His _bare _shoulder, mind you, "You tore the pillow in half, so I get to sleep on you."

"You have five seconds to get off me, or I'll make you regret being born."

"Mmm hm? And how are you going to do that?" Naruto mummers, one hand grasping his sheet covered hip in a possessive manner that Sasuke hates.

"I'm going to cut off your dick for one."

Naruto snorts, sending a warm gust of air down his chest, eyes closed, "Yeah, right. Yesterday maybe. But not anymore…"

Sasuke draws a kunai.

"Fuck, fine!" Naruto yelps, retracting his arms and rolling away so the distance almost accommodates Sasuke's bubble of personal space. Almost.

"You're a bastard, you know that?"

"I might have heard it once," Sasuke says, turning his back on the idiot that he's still regretting having anything to do with, "Or twice. Or a thousand times."

"Shut up."

He needs to take a shower, he thinks. And the sheets need to be washed. Badly.

"Are you going to be a bitch about this in the morning?" Naruto asks childishly, poking him in the back, "Again?"

"It's only one in the afternoon," Sasuke replies, throwing the sheets aside and inwardly grimacing at the stickiness and the ache between his legs. Naruto lets out a low wolf whistle. Sasuke turns to him in anger and glares him down.

"Stupid question," Naruto mutters, "Hey, where are you going?"

"To take a shower."

Naruto lets out an amused snort, "Again?"

Sasuke narrows his eyes, "Unlike you," he says coldly, "I actually have some sense of cleanliness."

"Well, unlike you," Naruto retorts angrily, "I'm not an anal freak."

"Coincidental choice of wording there?" Sasuke asks mildly, "Funny that it'd have integrated so quickly into your vocabulary, considering your lack of…ah…_experience_."

Naruto goes red, with anger or embarrassment, Sasuke can't tell.

"Just because I don't sleep with every guy I see…" Naruto snarls, looking quite feral.

"Well, that's obvious," Sasuke says, pulling on clothes that he doesn't particularly care about for the walk down the hall to the bathroom.

"And yet you still got off," Naruto replies, standing up. Sasuke's arm jerks reflexively and he has to physically force himself not to break Naruto's nose when the moron wraps an arm around his waist.

"Off. Now."

"'Coincidental choice of wording there?'" Naruto mocks, biting against his neck in a way that makes Sasuke want to rip his face off, "And besides," he says, voice suddenly going seductive, "I'm a fast learner…" his hand is going south and Sasuke holds off temptation and grabs his wrist.

"No, you're not," Sasuke replies emotionlessly, squeezing the offending appendage harshly, "Now get off. Right now."

"Only if you help me, honey," Naruto says in a fake cheerful voice.

Sasuke punches him.

Which leads to them having a full out brawl. Which, subsequently, leads to them doing other things that are almost as violent, only a bit more satisfying.

Sometimes Sasuke wonders why he even bothers.

* * *

"Look," Sakura-chan tells them once they leave the inn and begin walking down the sandy path, "I really don't care what you do in your free time, but next time could you please try _not _to break every single piece of furniture in your room."

Naruto feels his cheeks go red, "It's not my fault," he mumbles.

Sasuke, that bastard, doesn't say anything.

"And please try and keep the noise down until I buy earplugs."

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto screeches, "W-Will you stop saying things like that!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Sasuke frown. Haha! Serves him right!

"What part of the Wind are we going to again?" Naruto asks while they're taking a break.

"The Southern area," Sakura-chan replies.

"Hey, isn't it supposed to snow a lot there?"

She nods.

"Wow! That's so cool! I've only seen snow, like twice! Do you think they'll be snow when we get there?" he asks, excited.

"It is November," Sasuke says stoically.

"Hmmm…you know what snow reminds me of?" Naruto says, thinking out loud.

Neither of his two teammates say anything so he continues.

"That mission in the Wave," Naruto pauses and looks down at the ground, "The one right before I disappeared."

"Got kicked out more like," Sakura-chan says and Naruto is touched to find that she sounds angry.

"Yeah…that was the first time I'd seen snow…," he glances at Sasuke who is pointedly not looking at him. Naruto finds it, well…sorta cute.

"And," Naruto says whirling around to face the last Uchiha in a pose that was awesomely cool, if he did say so himself, "There's no way you're gonna be all cool and throw yourself in front of a bunch needles again."

"What?" Sakura-chan asks, "Needles?"

Naruto blinks in confusion at her, "Don't you remember? During the mission we thought Sasuke had died?"

"Yes…"

"Well, yeah, the stupid bastard jumped in front of a bunch needles-"

"Be quiet, Naruto," Sasuke says calmly.

"-'cause he thought he had to save me!" Naruto finishes dramatically, "Which, he totally didn't, by the way."

Sakura-chan looks at him for a long time through the eyeholes of her mask.

"It's funny how things work out," she says nostalgically and Naruto turns his head to the side and frowns.

She sounds so sad. And, really, why wouldn't they be? Both of them. Sakura-chan, besides what he'd like to believe, will probably never get married to the man who's ring hangs around her neck. And Sasuke…Naruto can't even imagine what he went through. All the disgusting rumors about Orochimaru come painfully to the forefront of his mind.

"I'm glad," Naruto says suddenly, "that I'm here with you two."

His cheeks go warm, as they both look at him in surprise. He smiles and rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, but does not take the words back. He couldn't even if he wanted to.

"Me too," Sakura-chan says, her voice delicate in a way that Naruto knows he will only here a few times in his life.

Sasuke says nothing, but (Naruto may be hallucinating) the corners of his mouth twitch upward.

* * *

As expected, the villagers who sighted the Akatsuki months ago have nothing new to tell them. Naruto wants to go further south. To see the snow, he says. Sakura does not care. She has nothing better to do. However, it is surprising that Sasuke does not disagree, but instead makes insulting comments about the size of Naruto's brain and his obsession with frozen water that falls from the sky.

"It's pretty," Naruto says simply and suddenly they find themselves in a mountainous landscape covered in soft white snow.

They stay there for almost a day, and even then she catches Naruto looking over his shoulder until the snowcaps are out of sight as they make there way back north.

They are walking through a large area of jagged rocks when they are attacked. It is so sudden that Sakura almost forgets to jump out of the way as a huge gust of wind threatens to slice her to pieces.

"11 o'clock!" Naruto shouts, apparently locating the attacker.

He sends his own wind back and a familiar looking blonde woman with a large fan leaps out from behind the rocks.

Temari, a woman she met during that first Chuunin exam. Sakura's jaw tightens and she leaps for her. However, she merely dodges out of the way, and makes for Naruto instead.

"_The hell?"_

Naruto dodges her blows and lands on of his own on her heavy fan, knocking it out of her grasp. She doesn't seemed perturbed by this however, but stead yanks at the collar of Naruto's tee-shirt and hoists him into the air with abnormal strength that only a ninja could possess. It is only then that Sakura realizes that she's wearing civilian clothing, her headband is no where in sight; she is sure Temari was a Jounin the last time they met.

"Where. Is. My. Brother," she snarls.

Naruto, who had reached up and looked like he was going to break one of her arms pauses, "W-What?"

"Tell me where he is," she says again, and Sakura is scared by the anger in her eyes.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto cries angrily, yanking himself out of her iron grip and taking a few footsteps back, "How the fuck am I supposed to know who your brother is if I don't know who you are!"

Sakura, however, does not ask questions and is in the process of attempting to knock the woman out, when she discovers she cannot move.

"Haruno Sakura, huh?" A voice comes from her left and Nara Shikamaru, whom she has not seen in two years comes into view. At first, she is confused, because she is wearing her mask, but then realizes that he must have been watching them the whole time and knows her fighting style well enough to identify her.

He too, however, is not wearing a headband or Jounin vest and she realizes they must be off duty. Off duty together. For a second Sakura remembers all those silly rumors going around four years ago about him and the Sand Kunoichi.

But she doesn't get to reflect much longer as Sasuke pounces on him from behind and she is subsequently forced to the ground.

"Shikamaru!" the blonde woman cries and Naruto takes the opening and holds a kunai to her throat.

"Don't move," he warns her in a slightly deeper voice that clues her in to the fact that Kyuubi's chakra is at work.

She drags herself to her feet, makes a quick decision and walks over to face Shikamaru. He is surprisingly calm, despite being threatened by whirring Sharingan.

"All three of you?" he says softly, eyes moving calculatingly between their forms.

"Yes," she says calmly, "The three of us."

It is important for him to understand this, but she doesn't know why.

"Traitors," he hisses and Sakura laughs.

"Of course!"

He looks much older than his age she realizes. More tired too. It must be the Rokudaime's work, she thinks in disgust.

"What is she talking about?" she asks him.

"Why don't you ask me yourself!" Temari cries.

Her eyes are so angry, Sakura reflects, angry and sad.

"Well?" Naruto questions, apparently irritated about being attacked for no reason.

"Where is Sabaku no Gaara?" she barks back in his face.

The serious expression slips from his face, turning into shock.

"What are you saying? Are you-"

"Where is he?"

"But…" Naruto looks distraught now, "Gaara never told me he had a sister…"

"I don't care," she replies, but Sakura can see in her eyes that she does, "You're one of them, aren't you? Where is he?"

"Right now?" he says still looking startled and apparently not understanding the power dynamics of the situation, "I don't know, but…" he trails off and Sakura nearly sighs in relief.

He apparently caught himself before saying something irreparable.

"Useless," Temari hisses, "Useless."

It is over. Sakura can feel it. Even if Temari had the will to fight, it would have been over. She and Shikamaru were the smartest people she had ever known; they knew when they were overpowered.

"One last thing," Sakura says to Shikamaru as they leave them behind, "Think of the country that we became traitors to."

Anger crosses his face, an unfamiliar expression, but in his eyes she can see sadness and the fact that he knows only too well what she is talking about.

**A/N: Intense stuff! Must be all the depressing fanfics I've been reading recently. Anyway, aside from the awkward NaruSasu scene, this chapter was pretty hard to write. It's because I was running out of ideas…but, now I'm good and just a hint: next chapter will have more familiar characters showing up!**

**Note: Okay, a lot of people have been complaining about Naruto and Sasuke's apparent promiscuity. I'll try to clear that up. I wouldn't really consider Naruto to be a promiscuous guy. For him, it was really just a phase he was going through, being terrified after discovering he was bi. For Sasuke…well, he's just a slut. A prudeslut, really. He's just stressed out over, you know, going after Itachi. He's a traumatized child, give him a break. **

**Anyway, thank for reading and please review! **


	9. Gyrating Haze

_ Naruto is lost. He had been wandering around for nearly four days now. Ever since that bastard ANBU disappeared. He tried to make his way back to Konoha, but only succeeded in getting lost in the middle of the forest. It was _days _since he had had any water (wasn't two days the maximum?) and he isn't really sure why he isn't dead yet. He totally missed the only path through the forest and his time is running out. _

_ Eventually, he begins to get so thirsty that it is hard to stand up and he ends up sprawled against a tree. It is getting hard to breathe now, and fear and panic begin to take over. Is he dying? Is this how it's all going to end? Dying of thirst, far from home? No, he can't die! He hasn't achieved his dreams. He hadn't become Hoka…_

_ And it is only then that Naruto realizes the true gravity of the situation he's in. Konoha had thrown him out. They have abandoned him. He'll never…he'll never…No! He'll find a way! He won't give up! He can't. But even as he thinks this, a part of him; a younger, more naïve part, begins to die._

_ He slides his hand into his pocket and grips the forehead protector that he was so proud to _earn _tightly. He hasn't worn it since that night when they took him away. He hadn't been _allowed _to. But his guard is gone. Has been gone for days. So why isn't he wearing it? _

_ But even now, as he tries to draw it from his pocket and tie it around his forehead, he can't. Kyuubi or no Kyuubi, lack of water and food is taking its toll. Terror fills him as he realizes that he won't last much longer. He tries to sit up, stand up, run away, but he can't. He's too weak, and suddenly the whole world is spinning; a myriad of colors, scents, tastes, sounds, and textures._

_ "Am I dying?' he wonders and then all the colors turn to white._

_ "…is stupid, Yugito," a female voice is saying, when Naruto awakes, "Just leave the human and let's go. You're acting weird."_

_Naruto feels sick. There is a strange taste in his mouth and his limbs feel like lead. He can't move, but he's too tired to care. He wants to sleep. His head hurts._

_ "It'll die," another voice says, also female._

_ Naruto can barely understand what's they're saying and his eyes flicker open and closed._

_ "I don't give a damn! Just kill it. Or, even better, let Gaara kill it. He's been moody lately."_

_ "You know Gaara only likes his prey live," the second woman says emotionlessly, "And so do I. Besides, it's kind of pathetic, isn't it?"_

_ "That I'll agree with."_

_There is a sharp pain in his side and Naruto lets out a weak whimpering sound. _

_ "Hmmm…that's odd."_

_ "What?"_

_ "It hasn't had water in a long time."_

_ "What's so odd about that? It's just a human. They tend to forgot simple things like-"_

_ "No," the second woman saying, cutting the other off, "By all rights it should be long dead by now."_

_ There is a pause and Naruto shifts trying to see the people who are talking. He's having trouble focusing and all he sees in a blurry brown color of the earth._

_ "What is that supposed to mean?" says another voice. A boy's by the sound of it._

_There is a pressure on his cheek and movement. Suddenly, he is being turned over and brightness penetrates his closed eyelids. Wait, wasn't it twilight the last time he-_

_Something thin and sharp (A fingernail?) drags down his left cheek. He twitches._

_ "Tsuyu," the second woman says again, this time frantically, "I think he's a-"_

_ "That's impossible," 'Tsuyu' says, "The odds of coming across another one are too high."_

_ "That's the only way to explain it! How else would he survive! And it explains the forehead protector. They must've thrown him out."_

_ "Well…" the first woman says, "I- Are you sure, Yugito? Because if you're not-"_

_ "Positive," 'Yugito' says._

_There is a long pause._

_ "It's wearing orange," the boy observes and Naruto blanks out again._

_When he wakes again, he is among jinchuuriki._

Chapter Nine-

"What the hell was that all about?" Naruto asks in confusion as they leave the scene, "Why did they attack us?"

"Well, I don't know," Sasuke answers sarcastically, "Maybe, just maybe, because we're all S-Class nin and traitors to Konoha. But I don't know, I could be wrong."

"Can you be serious for once?" Naruto retorts angrily…and slightly hypocritically.

"If you stop asking stupid questions, then-"

"Temari recognized you as a jinchuuriki," Sakura-chan says, "Apparently, Sabaku no Gaara is her brother…?"

"Wait, you know who that chick was?" Naruto asks, surprised.

"She was part of the Chuunin Exam six years ago," Sasuke says, "And I'm sure you recognized Shikamaru."

Naruto blinks, trying to place the name. It does sound awfully familiar…

"Ohh! _Now _I remember," Naruto gasps, feeling vaguely stupid for not having realized it before, "That kid from our class at the Academy! Wow, I didn't recognize him for a second!"

It brings back a lot of memories. In fact, now that he thinks about it, he remembers a lot of good times getting in trouble with Iruka-sensei…

Sasuke gives a haughty sniff, and Naruto sticks out his tongue. Aggravating bastard.

"That's really weird though," Naruto continues, "Gaara never said anything about a sister. Or unless," an idea comes to him and he lowers his voice conspiratorially, "Do you think she just said that to try and get me to tell her where he was?"

Sasuke looks thoughtful, but Sakura-chan doesn't agree with him.

"I doubt she would go as far as to pretend to be his sister," she says delicately.

Naruto pauses to think about this, "Actually, you have a point there," he says seriously.

Sakura-chan lets out a breathy laugh and Sasuke merely rolls his eyes.

And so they move on. They move back up north, still looking for clues. Sakura-chan manages to scar Sasuke for life (again) by walking out of the shower without a towel. He finally succeeds in getting Sasuke _not _to throw a hissy fit every morning. He is still working on his shower obsession. Winter comes and the weather changes slightly, but only the north and south get snow. Sasuke is tenser and tends to be more aggressive. Sakura-chan says he is getting impatient. Whatever that means.

It is late December when it happens and it starts out as a complete lack of foresight on each of their parts. They are traveling through the Grass and make a bad decision to take a main road. To Naruto's dismay, it is crowded with people. They are forced to put their hoods up and not talk as people jostle them on either side. They later find out that there is a large festival coming up from the manager of a ryokan they stay at.

"Perfect timing," Sakura-chan mutters in annoyance.

"Let's just get out of here," Sasuke says, looking slightly claustrophobic.

They take the next side road they see, and though Naruto is a people person, it is a relief.

"Pheww! _Finally_!" he says, pulling off his hood, once they get enough distance between them and the main road, "I was getting hot in this thing."

Neither Sasuke nor Sakura-chan say anything.

"Not that I _don't_ look hot in anything," Naruto says, leering at his asshole of a teammate.

Sasuke raises an eyebrow challengingly.

"Er…I _am _here," Sakura-chan says.

Naruto blinks, "Sakura-chan! We didn't _forget_ you! Right, bastard?"

"Good," she says, "Because bad things happen when you two think you're alone with each other."

Naruto feels himself turn red and Sasuke looks displeased.

They walk until it gets dark and then start looking for places to spend the night. Naruto badgers Sasuke into staying at an onsen (stingy bastard.) He gets his way, of course, by making crude comments and insinuations that make Sakura-chan cough.

"I win, I win, I _win_!" Naruto chants as they walk up the stone path to register for a room.

"Keep that up and I'll change my mind," Sasuke replies.

"No you won't," Naruto says smugly, "You might act all high and mighty, but I know you're thinking of all the benefits of a private onsen and-"

"Shut up."

"Oh, _make _me, baby." Naruto says, grinning wantonly.

Sasuke punches him in the shoulder and Sakura-chan groans.

"Can you two just save it until I'm not here…"

Naruto opens his mouth to retort, when two figures exit the building ahead of them, brushing the noren aside. It is a man and a woman and the latter looks shockingly familiar. Naruto is about to whisper to Sakura-chan if she recognizes her when they stop dead. The woman makes a soft sound of surprise and covers her mouth with her hand. Sasuke and Sakura-chan, too, tense up behind him.

The unknown man attacks. Sakura-chan pushes him out of the way and parries his blow. He has a strange style, Naruto thinks jumping out of the way. And what the fuck is up with those eyes? Clear and with fucking _veins _coming out of the sides. The woman has them too and suddenly Naruto remembers her. Hyuuga Hinata, also from his Academy class. Meaning she's an enemy. Sasuke dodges the woman's openhanded blow and Naruto throws himself into the fight. There was a time in which Naruto had abhorred hitting a member of the opposite sex. Then he met Tsuyu.

He grabs the her arm and makes to knock her out with a sharp blow to the head, but the Hyuuga slams her elbow hard into his stomach and he buckles over. Suddenly, he is pinned down by the man who looks related to her. He reaches up to throw him off, but Sakura-chan gets there first.

"Let him go, Neji," she says calmly, holding a kunai to his neck, "You're outnumbered."

'Neji' looks like he wants to keep fighting, but then sighs and lets Naruto go. Naruto scrambles to his feet and sees that Sasuke is holding his blade to Hinata's throat.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura-chan asks bluntly.

"I could ask the same for you," he replies coolly. There are bandages around his forehead instead of a forehead protector. Hinata doesn't seem to be wearing one either. _More _off duty shinobi? It is unlikely.

"Neji-san…" the woman says worriedly.

Naruto has to admire her for that.

Suddenly Sakura-chan lowers her kunai and takes off her mask. 'Neji' and Hinata openly gape at her…almost as much as Sakura-chan is gaping at them.

"S-Sakura-san?" Hinata says, obviously shocked.

Sasuke gives her an annoyed look, but she doesn't seem to be paying attention.

"You're married?" Sakura-chan blurts out, staring at the man's left hand and at the identical one on the woman's.

* * *

"I can't believe this," Sakura mutters, later when they are all sitting in a private dining room, "Of the all the unlikely people to elope…"

Neji scowls, as if the term 'elope' personally offends him.

Hinata smiles hesitantly, playing with her wedding ring nervously.

Her hair is longer than she remembers it, but other than that she looks mostly the same. Neji , too, looks mostly the same. But then again, why wouldn't they? After all they had only been two years, even though it seems much longer.

"I take it the Clan didn't agree?" Sakura asks, nostalgically remembering the various spats Tsunade-sama had with the elders of the Hyuuga Clan.

Neji lets out an unamused laugh, "Remember, Sakura, we're first cousins."

"Ah."

"Don't old Clans do that all the time, though?" Naruto questions naively.

"A hundred years ago, maybe, moron," Sasuke mutters over his cup of tea.

"Fuck you, asshole."

Neji watches their exchange warily and looks accusatorily at her. Sakura inwardly sighs. She knows what he thinks.

"Could I have a moment?" she says softly, looking pointedly at Naruto and Sasuke.

Sasuke raises an eyebrow and stays put.

Naruto looks confused for a second. Then, "Oh! My bad, sorry! C'mon, bastard, let's go check out that onsen," he says with a wink.

Sasuke doesn't put up a fight at _this_ suggestion.

_ "Men," _Sakura thinks, restraining herself from rolling her eyes.

The shouji clicks shut and Sakura turns to face them.

"S-Class?" she asks.

"No," Hinata replies, "Missing in action."

Sakura raises an eyebrow, impressed, "Nice. Better than me really."

"Why are you traveling around with Uchiha Sasuke?" Neji asks angrily, completely impromptu.

"It's not like that," she says coolly, angry at his insinuation.

"Then what is it like?" he snarls out, "You don't really care, do you? How _fucked_ up he was after you left-"

"Don't you dare judge me!' Sakura says, having difficulty saying seated.

"Quiet! Both of you!" Hyuuga Hinata says, with more conviction than Sakura ever her speak with before.

"You don't understand," Sakura says, as calmly as she can, "And there is _nothing_ between Sasuke and I. And there never will be."

"And I'm supposed to trust that," he says, "You were _obsessed _with him, so you expect me to believe that-"

"Uchiha Sasuke," she says wearily, "is gay."

They both stare at her and look embarrassed. Hinata suddenly turns a darker red, and Sakura is sure she is remembering that wink that Naruto gave her dark-haired teammate.

"Oh…" Neji says, looking vaguely disturbed, "Right…"

"Just don't tell him I said that," she says, smiling a bit.

None of them say anything for a while.

"Did you really have to leave?" Sakura asks gently.

"Yes," Neji replies, "It was getting pretty bad."

Sakura swallows and nods.

"You predicted that, didn't you?" he asks.

She nods again, "Don't ask me about it," she says, "I don't want to talk about it."

"It wasn't only that," Hinata says, "M-My father died."

"I'm sorr-" Sakura begins, but Hinata cuts her short.

"I hated him," she whispers staring at her knees, "I hated him _so _much. For everything. A-And then, a year ago, when he died, I found out that it was on his order alone, that Neji-san was still alive."

"What?"

"The Elders had ruled me too dangerous to live back when I was thirteen," Neji says, putting his hand on Hinata's back comfortingly, "Hiashi-sama wouldn't let them kill me, but we only found out after he died and the Elders…" he trails off.

"Tried to kill you," Sakura finished dully.

"We took one last mission together," Hinata says with a sad smile, "And never came back. Tenten-san is the only one who knows. She was our third teammate and came to our wedding."

Neji wraps his arm around her waist and Sakura has to look away as he presses a quick kiss to her temple.

"I'm sorry," Neji says angrily, after they part, "If we _disgust _yo-"

"It's not that," Sakura mutters, still not looking at them, "It just reminds me of…"

She closes her eyes and exhales.

"I'm sorry," Hinata says, sincerely.

"I had to leave," she says, more to herself than them, " I-I just…couldn't _stand _it anymore. T-That _man_ being in charge…"

"We know," Neji says disgustedly "He agreed with the Hyuuga's decision to off me."

"Neji-san!" Hinata says, surprised at his crudeness.

"It's true," he mutters, but less enthusiastically.

"Whipped," Sakura mutters and his head snaps up angrily.

Hinata giggles.

They talk more and trade information. They try to tell her more about Konoha after she left, but Sakura doesn't want to hear it. It will remind her of things she has spent the last two years trying to forget.

"Are you two staying here tonight?" Sakura asks them as it starts to get late.

"We stayed here last night," Neji replies, "and we have to move on."

"I'm sorry," Sakura says genuinely, not sure whether she was talking about their moving on or something else entirely.

"It's okay. We've really been on an extended honeymoon all this time," Hinata says optimistically, surprising Sakura.

Sakura never knew Hinata very well, but she reaches out and clasps her hand tightly.

"Good luck," she says, "I'm happy for you."

Hinata nods and leaves the room, but Neji lingers.

"If you see him again," Sakura starts hesitantly, "Could you tell…tell him I'm sorry?"

Neji simply nods and the shouji shuts leaving her alone.

"Where did Hinata and that other guy go?" Naruto will ask the next day.

"They moved on," Sakura will reply and will refuse to speak another word on the subject.

* * *

When Sasuke is bored, he makes a list, in his head, of all the reasons he _shouldn't _be sleeping with Naruto. It goes something like this:

For one, Naruto is loud and annoying. He talks too much and _smiles _too much. He sees the good side of things and never the bad, and sometimes his optimism is enough to make Sasuke retch. He loves people and _relationships_. And he wouldn't understand the concept of sleeping with someone just for the sake of sleeping with them.

Naruto likes romance and the quixotic life. He giggles like a little girl and has an unhealthy obsession with a dish involving not much more than noodles and broth. He's naïve and trusting, and sometimes Sasuke wonders why he's still alive.

In the end, Naruto wants sunshine and rainbows. He closes his eye to what's _really _there and sees only his own garbled version of reality.

He doesn't understand lust without love and _loves _Sasuke all too much. He's clingy and irritating when all Sasuke wants is a quick fuck. He doesn't understand 'no strings attached' and loves pillow talk to the point that it's nauseating. Naruto likes to grab onto him in his sleep and won't let go until Sasuke threatens to remove his fingers. He likes kissing him and saying stupid, cheesy things.

But, on the other hand…Naruto is safe. Even though it's twisted, he probably is the person Sasuke trusts the most. Sakura keeps too many secrets and is too brutal for him to trust as implicitly as he does Naruto. It is not that Naruto is particularly trustworthy. It's more the fact that Naruto is too _nice_ to ever do anything Sasuke really wouldn't want him to. He isn't like anyone else Sasuke has ever deigned to get himself involved with. It's almost relaxing, because Sasuke can sleep in the same bed with him (another one of Naruto's strange quirks) without worrying whether the blond was going to knife him in the middle of the night.

A few months after they meet, Sasuke is horrified to find that he doesn't particularly _want_ to sleep with anyone else besides the moron.. He becomes convinced that Naruto has grown on him, like some sort of cancer. He tries ignoring him for a while, but that plan was doomed from the start.

Eventually, Sasuke just gives up. There's no point in depriving himself of convenient sex. After all, Naruto won't stop bothering him, so he might as well make use of it. His quirks are regrettable, but Sasuke has stopped caring. Given up, so to speak, because Naruto will never listen to him anyway. Not that he'll him know that of course.

Sasuke wakes up, covered in sweat and shaking. He closes his eyes and tries to steady himself…and fails.

"Mmff…Sasuke?" Naruto says sleepily, voice muffled slightly by his pillow, "Wha's the matte-"

"Nothing. Go to sleep."

Sasuke rolls off the futon, puts on his shorts, and trudges to the bathroom. He forgets about the slippers completely and barely makes it to the sink before he empties his dinner into it. He grips the sides of it hard and breaths as though he just ran a marathon.

Tomorrow is the day. Twelve years to the day that that _bastard _killed them. He feels sick, like he has every year after that. His hands shakes and he closes his eyes again, trying to breathe normally.

"Hey, are you okay?" Naruto's voice comes from the door.

"I said to go back to sleep!" Sasuke snarls out aggressively.

He doesn't want Naruto to see him like this.

"Shit, Sasuke, you threw up! Here," he fills a glass of water, "Drink this."

Sasuke makes to smash it out of his hands, but changes his mind at the last second and grabs it, emptying it in a few gulps.

"C'mon," Naruto says worriedly, putting his hand around Sasuke's waist, "Let's go back to bed. Or do you think you're going to throw up again? I could probably ask for a bucke-"

"It's in the middle of the night, Naruto," Sasuke says, despite himself.

"Well, I could wake up the owner or something if you want. Or I could-"

"Shut up," Sasuke says and lets Naruto help him back to the futon, "Just shut up."

Naruto hovers worriedly above him, and Sasuke opens one eye in annoyance.

"Go to sleep."

Even in the dark, he can see Naruto frown, "I don't want to just-"

"I'm fine."

Naruto doesn't look assuaged, but lies down. He scoots even closer to Sasuke than he normally does and strokes his hair. Sasuke shifts uncomfortably, but Naruto doesn't seem to notice and presses a kiss to his temple and puts an arm around him in a way Sasuke supposes is supposed to be comforting.

"Don't," Sasuke tries to say, but it comes out more like a sleepy groan and then he is asleep.

When he wakes, it is the same as every year and he feels sick. He doesn't have the energy to move, and he's freezing.

Naruto has stolen the blankets (as usual) so he curls himself into a ball and shivers.

He's not so sure how much time has passed, but suddenly there is noise. And lo and behold, Naruto is awake.

"Sasuke! Sasuke! Shit, I think you have a fever!"

The blanket is put over him and Naruto tucks the edges around him. Nausea overcomes him and he chokes on nothing, his entire body shaking in way that he _knows _Naruto is going to take wrong.

"Shhh," Naruto whispers soothingly, and cradles his head against him, nuzzling his neck.

If Sasuke were more aware he probably would've hit him, but Naruto is warm and so Sasuke lets it go.

When he wakes up again, Naruto is gone. He tries to get up, but everything spins out of control and he can't move. It is like this every year and Sasuke hates it. Hates the helplessness and lack of control. He ends up grabbing the blanket and gripping it as hard as he can until he loses the energy to even do that anymore and falls into a dreamless sleep.

**A/N: Ooh! The drama! …Or not. Anyway, I bet none of you guessed that the 'familiar characters' were going to be Neji and Hinata! **

**Also, about the last bit with Sasuke's complaints. Pay him no heed. He's just a bitch. **

** Er…that's really all I have to talk about, so onward! Review! **


	10. Complication Number Infinity

**A/N: Warning: Brief lime about midway through this chapter.**

_Sakura is fifteen when they can no longer keep it a secret. They call all the shinobi, twenty-five and under, to a main hall and tell them of the secret of the jinchuuriki. _

_Sakura stands with the other Chuunin and faces the blank wall which slides are being projected on._

"…_have recently made a pact with _every _other country to track down these demon holders," a councilwoman is saying, "According to our spies, Akatsuki has gained control of the Sanbi, Rokubi, Yonbi, and Hachibi. The rest, however, have seemed to have teamed up for hopes of better survival. The pictures I am going to show you now you must memorize. If you see any of these jinchuuriki, you must kill them and bring their corpses back to Konoha so they can be properly disposed of. If Akatsuki gains all of the Jyuubi the consequences could be catastrophic! Here is the first slide."_

_Sakura leans forward interestedly. The whole concept of a human holding a demon inside them is intriguing. She wonders if she can see some notes on the process of the Sealing, now that it isn't classified anymore. _

_The first slide flickers into view. It is a bad picture of the profile of a boy even younger than Sakura. He has rust colored hair and dark circles around his eyes. He wears a t-shirt with the kanji for one on it. His expression is strange. Sakura wonders if this is part of being a jinchuuriki. Do they exhibit demonic traits? Are they in fact, possessed by the demon's spirit, but stuck in a human body? Maybe when they bring back one of the bodies Sakura can convince Tsunade-sama to let her look at it._

"_Sabaku no Gaara," read the woman, "Red hair, green eyes, fourteen years of age. This picture is very recent, taken by a security camera in the Cloud. He was originally from the Sand, but left two and a half years ago after two other jinchuuriki found him. His powers include controlling huge amounts of sand and awakening the demon tanuki that resides inside him."_

_The next slide shows the picture of a young woman with long blonde hair and a pretty face. She is looking at the camera with great dislike and Sakura bets that she destroyed it seconds after the image was taken. Her shirt had the kanji for two on it. Sakura thinks this is unpractical._

"_Nii Yugito, blonde hair, black eyes, 21 years old. This picture was taken three years ago, so keep that in mind. She has an enormous amount of control over the Two-Tailed cat, which inhabits her and is known for the destruction she wrecked on the Cloud's hidden village when she was a ninja there. She left four years ago with the help of another jinchuuriki."_

_The woman pauses, "We have no information of the holder of the Five Tailed Bear at the time. He is not among the rest of the jinchuuriki and we know that the Akatsuki have not captured him yet."_

_Another woman comes with the next slide. She has shoulder length brown hair and purple eyes with slits in them. She also appears to have claws and fangs. She isn't looking at the camera, but instead is focusing at something to its left. The kanji for seven is on her shirt._

"_Asari Tsuyu," the woman quotes, "Blue eyes (in human form,) brown hair, age seventeen. This picture was taken fifteen months ago. She is the holder of the Seven Tailed Kestrel, and thus has the ability to fly. She left the Sound four and a half years ago and seemed to be the instigator of 'this jinchuuriki group.' _

_Sakura twists her neck until it cracks. She removes her forehead protector and begins polishing it with her sleeve. Only one more to go. She wonders what kind of-_

_Several people in the crowd gasp. She thinks she hears Kiba yell something out, but she can't be sure._

_Uzumaki Naruto stands in the picture, taller and broader than she remembers. Unlike his compatriots, he is neither glaring at the camera or looking serious at all. Instead he is leaning down to look at it, sticking out his tongue and holding up his middle finger._

_Sakura dropps the headband with a loud clanging noise, causing the entire hall to turn and look at her._

"_As I'm sure most of you have realized," the councilwoman says, "The holder of the Nine Tailed Fox originally came from Konoha. This is Uzumaki Naruto. Blond hair, blue eyes, age fifteen. This picture was taken six months ago in the Sand. Little is known about Uzumaki's demon powers. He was initially sent away from Konoha two years ago when he showed signs of exhibiting them, but managed to escape his guard only weeks after. That is all."_

_The screen projector turns off and Naruto's face disappears. The shinobi leave slowly, muttering about the jinchuuriki between themselves. Sakura stands there, staring at the blank wall for a long time. Then, she kneels down to pick up her forehead protector, only to find that she doesn't want to._

"_What am I doing here?" she whispers to herself._

"_Sakura?"_

_She looks up to see Kakashi-sensei looking down at her. Suddenly, anger fills her and she wants nothing more than to break his nose._

"_Why," she snarls and rises to her feet, clenching her fists, "didn't you tell me?"_

"_There was a law," he says softly and she _hates _it, "We were forbidden to speak-"_

"_BULLSHIT!" she screams and it echoes around the near empty hall. A few of the stranglers turn in alarm._

"_It's the truth," he says in a resigned tone._

"_And when," she is horrified to find her voice breaking, "have you ever paid attention to the rules, sensei?"_

_He freezes at this, but Sakura doesn't care enough to wonder why. She clutches the forehead protector hard in her hands and turns._

"_Sakura," Kakashi calls after she walks a few steps, "I-"_

"_I don't want you to ever speak to me again," Sakura says calmly._

_Kakashi does not reply._

_She goes to an overgrown training ground and leans against a post, burying her head in her hands. She does not cry, but she stays like that for a long time. She doesn't know how long she sits there and it is twilight before she looks up._

"_Sakura-san?" a gentle voice says, breaking her reverie._

_She looks up to see Rock Lee standing there, looking worried._

_Sakura closes her eyes again, "Please leave me alone."_

"_It's getting dark," he says, "Let me take you home."_

_He does and Sakura doesn't know why she lets him._

"_Why did you come and look for me?" she asks bluntly, when they get to her door._

_He looks confused, "You were upset."_

"_Oh," she says, as if she understands, "Thanks, I guess."_

_Lee-san smiles at her and bids her goodnight._

"_Odd," Sakura thinks, "Odd."_

Chapter Ten-

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yells, pounding on the door and waking her up, "Open up!"

She sits up and runs to the door, tripping over the step that separates the tatami from the wooden floor.

"What?" she asks breathlessly searching his face for something wrong, "What is it?"

"Sasuke's sick," Naruto says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, "I think he has a fever."

She stares at him and opens her mouth to yell for scaring her into thinking that they were being attacked, but gives up at the last second.

"Just let me get my bag," she says and slides open one of the cabinet doors. She pulls her bag out and follows Naruto down the narrow hallway, adjusting the onsen's patterned yukata as she went.

Sakura steps into Naruto's and Sasuke's room, slides her slippers off and walks over to the futon. Sasuke appears to have wrapped himself in several blankets (though that might have been Naruto's doing.)

She places her hands of his forehead and his eyes snap open and he glares at her.

"Stop that," she says reprovingly, "Let me figure out what's wrong with you."

She checks his eyes, mouth and nose.

"It doesn't look like anything serious," she tells Naruto, "Just a bug, maybe a bit of flu. It should go away soon, but we'll have to stay here another day."

Naruto looks reluctant, "But what about that crowd? Anyone could have seen us. We're vulnerable if we stay here another day."

Sakura blinks. She hadn't even thought of that.

"That's a good point," she concedes, "But I don't think we should move him."

"I can carry him," Naruto offers, "I just…I just have a bad feeling."

Sakura nods and pulls out a fever reducer from her bag, "Have him take this with a glass of water," she says, holding out a bottle of murky green liquid, "Then try and get some sleep."

Naruto doesn't even notice when she leaves the room, still looking restlessly over at Sasuke.

She feels a little bad about how into Sasuke Naruto is. While he may have his own delusions, Sakura cannot help feel that this whole thing is going to end in shambles.

She goes back to her own room, but finds she cannot fall asleep. She mulls over the odd feeling she has. Something strange about Sasuke's sickness. What could it be? She saw no sign of anything it could be besides just a flu. So why…

Everything makes sense all of a sudden. Sakura closes her eyes and sighs. It is the anniversary of the Uchiha Massacre.

Just as she thinks that maybe she can get some sleep, Naruto knocks on the door again.

"He's acting weird," Naruto says when she lets him in, "Refused to take the medicine. I had to shove it down his stupid throat. Asshole."

"And you're telling me this why?" Sakura says in annoyance.

"I dunno, I was wondering if you, like, knew something."

Sakura sighs. Naruto is more perceptive than he looks, "On this day, twelve years ago, Sasuke's parents were killed."

Naruto's face falls, "Oh."

There is an awkward silence.

"D-Do you think I should-"

"Yes," Sakura says in exasperation.

"Right," Naruto mutters and leaves.

"Now can I go to sleep?" she says to the empty room.

* * *

"Go away," he tells Naruto when he tries to feed him breakfast.

"Sasuke," Naruto frowns, "Don't be an idiot. If you don't eat, you're not going to get better."

Sasuke turns his back on him. He is sick and tired of Naruto's mollycoddling. He just wants to be left alone.

"Eat," Naruto says, jabbing him with the chopsticks, "Now."

Sasuke closes his eyes and presses his face further into the pillow.

Naruto grabs him by the shoulder and pulls him onto his back.

"You-"

"Now," Naruto says, sitting on his stomach and holding the bowl of rice, "Open up."

Sasuke attempts to punch him, but Naruto grabs his wrist and takes the opening to shove the rice into his mouth.

Sasuke nearly chokes and is tempted to spit it back in his face.

"Was that so hard?" Naruto says exasperatedly.

"Yes," Sasuke says in a weak, but obstinate sort of voice.

He grabs the bowl of rice and pulls the tray next to the futon closer.

"Now will you go away?"

Naruto scowls at him and gets off him as he finishes his rice and starts on the miso soup.

"Asshole…" Naruto murmurs in an overly fond way, playing with Sasuke's bangs.

"Get out of it," Sasuke says tiredly, putting down his empty bowl and turning away again.

He closes his eyes, trying to sleep and trying to ignore the hurt look on Naruto's face.

"…ke…Sasuke!"

Sasuke groans and opens an eye, "What?" he says, his voice coming out scratchy.

"We have to go now," Naruto says, molding him into a seated position. He pulls a shoulder of his yukata down and Sasuke pushes his hands aside. He still has pride.

"I can dress myself," he mutters, but Naruto ends up having to do it anyway.

The feel of his warm hands on his body makes him shiver. He grabs Naruto's shoulders compulsively.

"C'mon," Naruto says, turning around, "Get on my back."

Sasuke complies and lays his head on Naruto's left shoulder.

He doesn't exactly remember how they leave the onsen; in fact, he spends most of his time in-between sleep and wakefulness. He hears Naruto's voice vibrating against his chest and every once in a while, Sakura's.

Nightmares come too, while he battles through another high fever. Bloody visages of his older brother over his dead parents torment his dreams, as they have for years, but other dreams come too. On the same day, years ago, Orochimaru's gleeful voice and creeping hands on his bare skin-

_-dear, dear, Sasuke-kun, what do we have here?-_

It is night again and he awakes in a cold sweat, delirious and shaking. Sakura peers down at him.

"You alright?"

Sasuke does not answer her, but rolls over, only to find himself face to face with Naruto, who's hand is curled around his waist. Sasuke scrunches his face up in disgust and wishes it all away.

_-pooor child. Such a fever! I'll help, but don't move. Just let me-_

When Sasuke wakes, sunlight is streaming through the clouds. They are situated under a rocky overhang on the side of a mountain. He removes Naruto's hands from his person and sits up, pushing the multiple blankets off. Sakura is sleeping against a rock near the dying fire and Sasuke walks stiffly out from under the overhang.

He climbs with difficulty down the mountain. The temperature is quite warm for winter and Sasuke follows the smell of water. He finds a small spring a while walks around the side of the mountain. Sasuke sits and rinses his hair, then leans back, enjoying the sun on his face.

Suddenly, he realizes how dirty and sweaty he is. Sasuke wrinkles his nose and pulls off his shirt and pants. The water is cold, but Sasuke doesn't particularly care. He scrubs himself with sand from the bottom until he's satisfied that he's clean.

"You know," Naruto says, walking out from behind a pile of stone, "Dunking yourself in cold water is not exactly the smartest thing to do after your recovering from a _fucking _fever!"

Something squeezes in his chest. Sasuke makes an indistinct noise in the back of his throat.

"And, fuck, are you skinny-dipping?" Naruto asks, still looking cross.

Sasuke frowns and pulls the pant of his underwear above the water to show him that he certainly is _not_.

Naruto snorts and flops down beside the water, "I'm not sure if that's worse or not. Prissy freak."

"And that, of course," Sasuke says, voice dripping with sarcasm, "is coming from the one who wears _orange_."

"Hey! I happen to like orange!"

Sasuke pulls himself out of the water and shakes the excess water off. He looks up to see Naruto blatantly staring at him. His mouth of halfway open and Sasuke smirks.

"You _asshole_! You did that on purpose!" he accuses, cheeks red.

"Not really."

"Like hell," Naruto sulks.

Sasuke grabs his shirt and pulls it over his head, "Don't you have anything better to-" he starts, but Naruto cuts him off. With his mouth.

He groans and grabs Naruto's shoulders. Naruto moans and slides his hands down his slides, filling him with a strange buzzing sensation. Sasuke grabs his hair harshly and meshes his mouth further with Naruto's. The demon holder paws at the shirt he put on mere seconds ago and Sasuke allows him to pull it off.

Naruto presses his teeth to his collarbone for a while and Sasuke moans in frustration, pushing his hip up in the effort to get some friction. Annoyed, Sasuke kicks Naruto's feet from under him.

"Hey!" Naruto yelps and lands on his back, "What the fuck was that mphhhh!"

All Sasuke has to do is suck on Naruto's lower lip and add a few bites to his neck, before the other man is utterly incoherent. Naruto whimpers and grinds his hips upward, panting droplets into Sasuke's neck. Sasuke removes Naruto's jacket with his teeth and all but rips the stupid nine t-shirt off.

"Slow," he snarls, working at his fly.

"Fuck you," Naruto moans, playing with Sasuke's nipples, which the other finds increasingly disturbing.

Without warning, Sasuke is on his back and Naruto's hand has somehow been shoved down the front of his pants.

"Argh!"

"Sensativeeee!" Naruto practically sings and Sasuke digs his nails further into his neck in annoyance.

Naruto grins brilliantly at him and begins kissing down his stomach, making noises that Sasuke is horrified to find vaguely attractive.

Sasuke squirms, trying to actually get anywhere, but the blond idiot of a fuck is being stupid as usual.

At this point, he seems content to kiss down his abdomen and…that's getting a little bit too close to his… Why the hell is he breathing like that over his…it's not that it doesn't feel nice, but-

"Naruto, what the hell do you think you're….Ah!"

"Were…you dropped on the head as a child?" is the first sentence Sasuke manages afterwards.

Naruto smirks and rinses his mouth from some water from the spring, "Maybe."

"I cannot believe you just did that. That is disgusting. Do you have some bizarre masochistic tendency to-"

Naruto rolls on top of him and kisses him soundly, "That's not what you were saying a minute ago."

"There is no way I'm kissing you after that," Sasuke says twisting his head away.

"Sasukeeee!" Naruto whines, pouting, "Whyyy?"

"Disgusting," Sasuke says, "Of all the unhygienic-"

"Wow, you've never heard of a blowjob before?" Naruto says tracing a rather prominent bruise of Sasuke's neck proudly.

"A what?"

Naruto stares at him, "Fuck, I was joking!"

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke says, narrowing his eyes.

"How do you not know what a blowjob is?"

"There's a term for what you just…" Sasuke trails off.

"Huh? What did I just do?" Naruto teases, mouthing the shell of his ear.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about," Sasuke says stiffly.

"Hmmm?" he says, just to be annoying, and walks his fingers up Sasuke's bare arm.

Sasuke bats them off and starts messing with his clothes again.

"Aww, you're so cute and innocent, Sasuke-chan. I just want to-FUCK, MY ARM DOES NOT BEND THAT WAY!"

* * *

"I'm not going to ask," Sakura-chan says when they return hours later with mussed hair and clothing, "So please don't try to explain."

"Sure thing!" Naruto beams and his depressing friend/teammate with benefits just sulks.

Naruto is starting to get sick of mountains. They are everywhere and he wants a change of scenery. Fortunately, they are going to be crossing the Fire Country soon, where there are less of them. But other problems start occurring in place of the giant lumps of rock.

"Open up!"

Naruto wakes, unsure if he is dreaming of the night the ANBU came to take him away or if there are really people pounding on his door at two o'clock in the morning.

"Who is it?" Sasuke asks calmly, putting his boxers on.

"We 'eard," Naruto recognizes the voice as being drunk, "that there were a couple of faggots in this room! Open up or we'll break the fucking door down, you sick, twisted-"

Sasuke's eyes widen a centimeter, "Change into a girl," he mutters and slide out of bed, putting on a yukata.

"What? But Sasuke-"

"Do it!"

Naruto makes the hand signs and Sasuke throws open the door. Naruto's naked female version and the drunk men outside stare at each other for a few seconds.

"Get out," Sasuke says menacingly and they continue to stare.

"But-"

Naruto hears a crack and then Sasuke slam the door, wiping blood off his fist.

"Was that really necessary?" Naruto asks rolling her eyes.

"Yes," Sasuke says stoically, getting back into bed, "Change back."

She stretches, "I dunno, I kinda like this form."

Sasuke looks horrified and she giggles, leaning closer to him. He actually has the gall to flinch when her breast touches his arm.

Naruto pops back into his male form and laughs until tears roll down his cheeks.

"Trouble!" Sakura-chan says, barging into their room the next day, "We have to get out of here! Someone recognized me."

"What?" Sasuke says, startled, "You're wearing a mask!"

"They knew me! Someone told them!"

"Konoha?" Naruto asks, stuffing clothes into his backpack.

"Who else, dumbass?"

They make it halfway out of the village before the ninja catch up with them. There are twelve of them and Naruto gets a feeling that they knew they were coming. But how could they? Unless, someone really saw them in the Grass…

He and Sakura-chan take two out immediately, but the rest prove a challenge. They are all seasoned Jounin and have a knack of seeing through all the techniques Naruto tries to use.

They get separated somehow and Naruto is alone. He is completely surrounded.

"Shit!" Naruto growls, dodging a ball of fire, "Shitshitshitshit!"

After nearly ten minutes, Naruto starts to get desperate. He breaks two arms, knocks one unconscious and is just about to jump kick another when they all retreat. Then one gets him from the behind and there is a kunai between his shoulder blades.

Naruto screams and crushes the man's foot in an attempt to escape the pure agony in his spine. But the enemy ninja won't let go and suddenly there is a sickly smelling white smoke everywhere. Naruto tries not to breathe it in, but the enemy ninja is holding on with dear life and he can't escape, and everything goes dark.

"Sasuke," Sakura whispers as they stand over their fallen enemies, halfway through cleaning out the deep wound in her teammate's side, "Naruto's chakra is gone."

**A/N: Yeah, I'm evil. I know. **

**Anywho, next two chapters are going to be awesome. I fucking guarantee it. (Shut up, it's 4 in the morning. I get a points for that…I think.) **

**Oh, also, sorry about the lime of doom. I wrote that about two hours ago, so give me some leeway. Please? **

**Please review!**


	11. Sakuyahime's Revenge

"_Leaving already?" his bedmate from the previous night asks, yawning and mussing his hair._

"_I've got to be in the Rock by nightfall," Sasuke replies, pulling on his haori._

"_Hmm," the other man says as Sasuke picks up his sword, "Are you, like, some sort of ninja?"_

_Sasuke allows a ghost of a smile to appear on his face, "Something like that."_

_He leaves._

_Sasuke is eighteen and is no closer to finding Itachi than he was three years ago. He has been to every country at least three time and found only two things about Akatsuki. He knows their member's dress, courtesy of an old woman in the Grass, and he knows their objective, courtesy of Orochimaru. _

_The mindset of 'nothing is important except Itachi' is wearing thin, and more than once Sasuke just wants to sleep and never wake up. _

_He is taking a break by a creek in the Rock, when he hears it. There is a crashing noise and a woman with a baby runs out into the shallows and collapses. Sasuke stares as a bunch of men rush after her._

"_You whore!" one yells, kicking her in the stomach, "Did you think you could escape from us?"_

_The woman scrambles into an upright position, holding her child to her chest protectively. Her hair has been chopped off messily and her clothes are in tatters. Make-up runs down her cheeks and her newborn baby wails. _

"_Slut!" a bearded man cries and hoists her up by the hair. She spits in his face and he punches and lets her fall._

_Sasuke suddenly has a vision of his mother, dead on the wooden floor, blood still leaking out of her-_

_He clears his throat. _

_They spin around and regard him warily. They are all at least ten years older than him._

"_Don't interfere, kid!" one hissed, "This is a private matter!"_

_Sasuke activates his Sharingan and glares. He watches, one by one, as they all fall to their knees and shake._

"_Y-You…"_

"_Get out," he tells them crossly and they run for their lives._

_The woman remains, staring at him like he was a ghost. There is a silence broken only by her crying baby. Sasuke wishes it would stop. _

_Suddenly, fear floods onto her face and she runs through the creek to the other side, only to fall and hit her knee against a sharp rock. She lets out a moan of pain and clasps at it, shaking. Sasuke walks across the water and hands her a bandage. She stares at it mistrustfully for a few seconds, and then grabs it._

_A closer look at her yields that she is young, in her early twenties. Her stomach is still slightly swollen from pregnancy, but the rest of her is shockingly thin. Her heavy makeup and dress make her appear to be a prostitute._

_After she washes out and bandages her wound, she eyes his bag hungrily. Sasuke opens it and hands her a spicy tuna onigiri. She grabs it as well, and only halfway through eating it does she speak._

"_Why did you do that?" she asks, rocking her baby back and forth._

"_Do what?"_

"_Scare them away." Her eyes narrow, "What do you want?"_

_He looks at her disgustedly, knowing what she is implying._

"_I'm not interested in women," he tells her, figuring he might as well get it over with._

_She stares for a second and then laughs, a hoarse, sickly sound. _

"_That's funny," she says, "I haven't heard that in a long time."_

_She stands up and washes the makeup and grime off her face in the creek. Her baby wails, writhing on the ground._

"_Shh…" she soothes, coming back to pick it up. _

_She bares her breast and holds the baby up. Sasuke wrinkles his nose in disgust and looks away. _

"_You're a funny kid," she tells him when he comes back from a village with new clothes for her, "You a shinobi?"_

_She runs her eyes over him and Sasuke knows she is looking for a forehead protector._

"_I'm a traitor," he says, "I have no allegiances."_

"_What are you doing here?" she asks in surprise._

"_I'm looking for someone."_

_A few days later, the woman gets sick. She gets a horrible fever and can no longer even feed her child. Sasuke takes her to the nearest village. He hands the headmen a handful of coin and asks him politely to take care of her until she is better._

"_Good luck, then, kid," she tells him from a bed, "What did you say you were doing again?"_

"_I'm going to kill someone," he says._

_She smiles sadly and coughs, "I thought so."_

_It's only a day after he leaves that he realizes that he never asked her name. _

Chapter Eleven-

Sasuke gives a grunt of pain as they hit the ground. Sakura had not finished healing his side.

"They're gone," Sakura mutters, looking around the empty clearing, " That smell!" She holds her hand over her mouth and nose. Sasuke doesn't even have the energy.

"What is it?"

"Sleeping gas, I think. It probably induces paralysis as well. It's mostly blown away now, but there's still a residual smell…But it means he's not dead . They've probably taken him back to…"

"Konoha?" Sasuke finishes, "Why would they take him to…"

He hisses and keels over.

"Sasuke!"

Sakura grabs his arms and presses healing chakra over the wound.

"Save it!" he snarls, "We have to-"

"Sasuke, don't be an idiot! You're in no shape to be-"

He passes out.

When he wakes up next the sun is low in the sky. He grapples for his side and finds that it's healed. He sits up and pushes a heavy blanket off him. Sasuke has to blink a couple times before his vision clears.

"Sakura?" he calls.

"Over here."

He turns to see her sitting next to a small fire, sharpening a kunai. They are in a different part of the forest now, amidst the ruins of several stone buildings.

Sasuke stands and stretches.

"Any stiffness?" she asks immediately.

"A little."

"Try and stretch it out. We have to move fast. They're almost a day ahead of us."

Sasuke starts at this. He had forgotten for a moment.

"Why would they take him to Konoha?" he asks, rotating his torso to get rid of the ache.

"Information on the other jinchuuriki. At one time they all traveled together, and he probably knows where they are."

Sasuke feels the color drain out of his face. For a second, he thinks he might throw up.

"Sakura…"

"We have to go," she says. Her masks blocks him from telling what her expression is.

"Sakura," Sasuke repeats, "He'll never tell them. That means they'll-"

"I know!" she yells and the sound echoes around the clearing, "That's why we have to move!"

Sasuke curses and grabs his haori. The smell of smoke permeates the air as Sakura douses the fire.

"Are you ready?" he asks her.

"I've been ready for years," Sakura answers in a cold, hard voice.

"Let's go."

It takes them a day to get to the center of the Fire Country. They don't talk much and take breaks even less. Sasuke sleeps once, for five hours, but then they are moving again. By the time they reach the walls of the city they once called home it is dark again.

Sasuke scans the ramparts and sees eighteen guards in the nine towers. The number surprises him. They weren't even expecting an attack? He climbs down the tall pine to relay the information to Sakura, but she is gone. He frowns and then sees a flash of pink through the trees.

"Sakura," he says, "What are you doing? I thought we were going in."

"This will just take a minute," she replies, and then, more to herself, "I know it's around here somewhere."

"What is? Where are you going?"

She does not answer. Then, "Here we go."

She falls to her knees and pats the ground. A closer look at it shows that the dirt under her palm is a slightly different color than its surroundings. Sakura begins to dig. Sasuke watches as the hole gets bigger and bigger. Just as he is about to ask what she is digging for, her hand hits something hollow. She clears the dirt off what looks like a lid of a large rectangular box. She hoists it out of they hole and pries it open with dirty fingernails. Inside lies a familiar white vest and a pair of standard shinobi pants. Sasuke also sees an ANBU mask and a wakizashi. Sakura pulls out the wakizashi and then buries the box again.

They take out the guards in the towers without any hitch.

"Alright," Sasuke says, standing on the ledge of the last guard tower, "Where do we start?"

He wipes the blood off his sword and starts when he hears a cracking noise. He turns to see that Sakura had shattered her mask in one hand. She draws her slightly rusted wakizashi with the other.

"Let's go."

"Wait!" she hisses, holding Sasuke back, "There's someone down there!"

They both freeze and Sasuke holds his breath for a second. It is only now that he realizes how dangerous and stupid this is. They are going to get killed for sure. But there is no going back. Not with Naruto at stake.

"Sakura," Sasuke whispers, "I think it's Kakashi!"

Fury overtakes him. Kakashi, who walks casually down there while Naruto is most likely being tortured. Kakashi, who mentored Naruto all those years ago. Kakashi, whom he has not seen for six years.

He launches himself off the tower and Sakura follows. Kakashi spins around and drops his book, but he is too late. Sasuke smashes into him and pins both arms to the wall of a nearby building and holds his sword to his throat.

"Where is he?" he snarls, Sharingan spinning.

"S-Sa-Sasuke!" Kakashi chokes, eyes wide and looking like he'd seen a ghost.

"Answer the question!" Sasuke says menacingly, pressing his blade further against his throat.

"Keep your voice down," Sakura hisses, looking around warily.

Kakashi gapes at her, "Y-You-"

Sasuke hits him. Hard.

"You fucking piece of-"

"Sasuke, get a hold of yourself!" Sakura cuts in. She pushes his sword out of the way and grabs him by the collar.

"You tell us now," she says, "Where is Naruto?"

"What are you talking about?" Kakashi hisses, "You two were seen traveling with him, weren't you?"

"Yes," Sasuke replies, "Until you torturers _kidnapped_ him!"

"I have no idea what you're saying," Kakashi says tersely.

"Don't pull that, you-" Sasuke growls and makes to break Kakashi's arm.

"Stop it, Sasuke!" Sakura says, "He doesn't know anything."

"What is that supposed to mean? He's one of them, isn't he?"

"Kakashi hasn't been part of ANBU for years," Sakura says, keeping her eyes firmly on her former sensei. Her face twists with dislike, "We'll have to go to the source. Take care of him."

Kakashi's eyes widen, "Wha-"

Sasuke throws a glancing blow to his head and Kakashi crumples.

"You didn't kill him, did you?" Sakura asks, unconcernedly.

"No," Sasuke spits regretfully.

"ANBU headquarters are this way," Sakura says.

"What about him?" Sasuke asks, prodding Kakashi with his toe, "Shouldn't we hide him?"

"I don't think it'll make much of a difference," Sakura says, "There's no way we're getting out of here unnoticed."

Sasuke shrugs and then adds, "Then let's give them something to remember, shall we?"

"Sasuke," Sakura says mockingly, "don't say that. You make us sound like criminals." She pauses, "Shall we act like ones too?"

"I thought you would never ask."

* * *

"Never," Naruto croaks, coughing out blood.

He glares at where he thinks they are, but he can't be sure. His vision is blurry and he hasn't been able to see anything for hours.

"You filthy little monster!" Naruto cries out as his ribs are broken, "We know you know where they are! Tell us or we'll make this a lot more painful!"

"Bring it!" Naruto snarls, and inside he can hear the Kyuubi laughing.

"_No," _he thinks, _"You can't come out!" _

But his self-control is slowly being eroded.

"Alright," a furious voice snarls, "You have two choices."

Naruto turns his face away.

"Now you listen to me!" His torturer punches him in the face. He is dragged up by the collar of his shirt. The man breathes into his face, "You have two choices. You can either tell or," someone grabs his left hand, which is chained to the wall, "I cut off your fingers. One. By. One."

"Go to hell," Naruto replies.

"Wrong answer."

Naruto screams.

* * *

They sneak stealthily through the night and land soundlessly in front of the ANBU headquarters. It is such a nostalgic building for Sakura. She slides in through a broken window after Sakura smashes the alarms with her moldable chakra.

"Which way?"

"Over here," Sakura replies, "The interrogation chambers are in the basement."

"I thought torture was illegal in Konoha. They have chambers for it?"

Sakura snorts, "Oh, it's illegal alright, but petty laws like that never made any difference to the ANBU."

"You were one of them," Sasuke states. It is not a question.

"I was very angry, Sasuke," Sakura says as they take the stars three at a time, "Very angry. Almost," Her scarred face twists into a smirk, "as angry as I am now."

They open the door and both wince as it creaks. The hallway is pitch dark and Sasuke lights a lamp to reveal hundreds of cells. There are moans as people are awoken by the light. They run through the hall quickly, knowing they have little time. There are hundreds of people locked inside; men, women, child, the elderly.

"My baby," a woman moans, rocking back and forth, "You murders, how could you?"

Others are dead from beatings or starvation. A disgusting stench fills the entire hallway.

"He's not here!" Sasuke hisses after they reach the end.

"Over here!" Sakura points to a door.

She breaks it open and Sasuke hold up the light. It is a dark chamber and she immediately recognizes the smell of blood.

And in the center, is Naruto.

He doesn't even look much like Naruto anymore. His face is swollen so badly it is hardly recognizable and blood trails from his mouth. His entire chest cavity and head are also soaked with red. His wrists are chained to the wall and he hangs lifelessly from them.

Sakura is so angry her hands begin to shake, but she has a job to do.

She breaks the chains with her bare hands and Sasuke catches Naruto as he falls.

"Shit," Sasuke whispers, and he runs his hands over Naruto's face and then presses his head to his bloody chest.

"He's alive!"

"Careful!" Sakura whispers, lifting up Naruto's bloody shirt. It is a mess. His ribs are broken, she can tell from just looking at them, but the wounds are not fatal. They were simply made to cause pain. Her hands shake and she rummages in her bag for bandages. Sasuke eases Naruto head and back onto his lap.

"Naruto," she hears him whisper, "Naruto, wake up! It's us!"

Naruto lets out a whimpering cry and shakes.

"Shh!" Sakura says dabbing blood off his chest, "Naruto, be quiet!"

"Stop!" he cries, twisting his head from side to side, "Leave me alone!"

"Shut him up!" Sakura hisses.

"I won't tell you!" Naruto all but hollers, "I'd never-"

Sasuke presses his mouth to Naruto's, muffling the sound. Naruto struggles for a bit and then goes limp. His blue eyes fly open and he looks shell-shocked.

"Sa-Sasu-"

"Shut up," Sasuke says hoarsely, wiping his mouth, "Why are you always so noisy?"

Naruto's expression doesn't change, "Is that really…I can't see too well, my eyes…"

"What did they do?" Sakura asks sharply, "Sasuke hold him up. I need to wrap these bandages around his torso."

Naruto hisses and Sasuke hoists him into a seated position, "Sa-Sakura-chan! …Nothing to my eyes, but it's so dark and now…you have a light on? I can see that, but…"

"Don't talk," she tells him, "You'll attract attention. Sasuke shift him a bit higher, will you?"

Sasuke does not comply.

"Sasuke?"

She turns to him to see him staring at the Naruto's left hand, "What are you looking…"

Her hands start to shake again and a horrible sound escapes her throat. Naruto's left hand, something they overlooked before, is covered in blood. His pinky and ring finger are missing.

"Those bastards," she whispers, and she's horrified to find herself in tears. She wipes them away quickly and focuses on healing the deep wound in Naruto's back.

Naruto's head lolls on Sasuke's shoulder and neither of them says anything for a while. Sakura heals and Sasuke stares, quite blankly, at Naruto's left hand.

Suddenly there is a clattering and shouting voices from the other end of the hallway. They hear running footsteps, and before they can react or plan anything the door bursts open and shinobi crowd inside. Sakura cannot tell how many of them are. They stare at each other for a few seconds. Sasuke, surprisingly does not look up. His gaze is still fixed on Naruto's hand.

"You-" the one with the rooster's mask cries, "How dare you break in here, you traitor!"

"We'll finish you!" another shouts and Sakura removes her hands and goes for her wakizashi.

"Stop, Sakura," Sasuke says in an unreadable tone. He stands, "I'll take care off this."

She opens her mouth to protest, but then closes it and nods.

There is a lot of fighting after that, but Sakura does not look. She knows if she does, she won't be able to resist joining in. So, she looks down and tries to repair Naruto's shattered ribs and heal the bloody stubs of where fingers used to be. The room is quiet then, but she still can hear the fighting in other rooms, far off.

Sasuke comes back about ten minutes later, soaked in blood.

"There were twelve of them," he tells her, "Seven are dead, and five are unconscious."

He wipes his sword off on his pants and Sakura feels sick. It shouldn't have been this way, she thinks irrationally. My hands are already dirty, why didn't I…

They both freeze as chakra surrounds them.

"Shit," Sasuke whispers.

"The roof!" Sakura says, gesturing upwards. Sasuke takes Naruto and hoists him onto his back. Naruto mumbles, but does not wake.

"One," Sakura whispers, "Two. Three!"

She grabs her bag and launches herself upwards. She cracks a ceiling open, and then another two. Sasuke follows and they stand on the roof of ANBU Headquarters, surveying the ninja below them.

Everyone is there. All the people she left behind. And for a second she forgets and has to remind herself that they are the enemy now, and that all the things she knows about them must be used against them.

Sakura's face tightens and she holds her unsheathed wakizashi up.

"Mark my words," she says coldly, "You will regret this."

"ATTACK!" a masked ANBU captain shouts and she throws herself into the fray.

At first, Sakura's plan was to fight her way out, but she's too angry to think about that now. She only cares about one thing now, and that's taking down as many of them as she can.

Everything goes so fast and the next ten minutes are a blur of blades and jutsu and blood. Somehow she gets separated from Sasuke, and suddenly she is surrounded by people she used to know. Shikamaru jumps out, making hand signs. She is almost captured by his shadow, but at the last second performs a Kawarimi (1). She snaps out a foot and catches him hard in the stomach. He falls to his knees, gasping for breath, and Sakura raises her fist for another blow. However, before she can strike she is forced to dodge an overly large shuriken. She looks up to see Tenten, face alight with fury, and she barely gets out of the way before several kunai hit her. Gathering chakra in her hand, Sakura punches the ground and releases it in an instant. Immediately, the ground ruptures. Buildings shift and there are cries of surprise from both ninja and hiding civilians alike. Taking advantage of their confusion, Sakura launches herself high out of the mess she created and then propels herself towards her shocked opponent. With one blow, she breaks Tenten's jaw and with another, she knocks her unconscious.

Sakura dodges around a few other weapons thrown at her and then leans against a corner of a building to catch her breath. She closes her eyes and listens to the sound of battle and chaos, thinking that this is the most therapeutic thing she's done in a while.

She takes out a couple Chuunin with ease and then gets a deep cut in her upper thigh from a stray shuriken. She hisses and limps into an alley and recuperates quickly.

After five minutes, the cut is all but gone and Sakura hears footsteps. She jumps out of the alley, brandishing her wakizashi, ready to make quick work of her enemy. She freezes.

"Oh," she says stupidly.

Rock Lee stands before her. He is out of breath, and is wearing his Jounin vest and shuriken pouch over his pajamas. There is a shallow cut on his cheek.

They stare at each other for a while. Nothing seems to matter and for a while Sakura almost forgets they are in the middle of a battle.

"Y-You," Lee starts in a strange tone, "You and Sasuke-kun, huh?" There is a sad, resigned sort of smile on his face. Sakura doesn't like it.

She would've laughed if the situation hadn't been so dire.

"Don't be stupid," she tells him, pulling out the ring on one of her necklaces, "It was never Sasuke. Not really."

He looks different. He is taller, and his hair slightly longer. Not in that stupid bowl cut that Sakura would never admit to liking.

"What are you doing here?" he asks finally.

"Saving Naruto," she says, "I told you about him, didn't I? He used to be my teammate back when I was twelve. And stupid."

"'Naruto'…" he repeats slowly, "The jinchuuriki?"

"The person."

He gives her a forlorn look, "You didn't even say goodbye."

"I couldn't," she says softly, "I'd have never been able to leave."

"Sakura-san," he says seriously, "What are you really doing here?"

She opens her mouth, closes it, and then opens it again, "I'm going to kill someone," she says calmly, because, really, she's known it since the second they arrived, "I'm sorry."

She walks up to him and kisses him right on the mouth. His hands go automatically around her waist.

"I'm sorry," Sakura says again when she pulls away and then she is gone.

She knows now, what she has to do. It had been two years of hiding, two years of trying to put off the inevitable. She hadn't wanted to become like Sasuke, someone who lived merely for revenge. She had wanted to be better than that, like Tsunade-sama would've wanted her to be. But there was no fighting her destiny any longer. It seemed that she was fated to walk down the long, dangerous path of revenge.

She knows where he is, too. Hiding away behind his bodyguards in the center of the village. That would suit him, she thinks maliciously, sitting in safely and ordering others about.

She no longer jumps at the opportunity for a fight. Instead, she makes her way to the center of the village using alleys and dark streets, ducking at the sight of any movement.

She comes across them completely by accident this way. He and his bodyguards are hurrying (as much as someone could hurry with a cane) down an abandoned lane. She is surveying the area when she sees them. Target sighted.

Sakura jumps onto down in front of them and they start.

"Hello, Danzou," she says almost gently.

"You!" his guards shout and draw their wakizashi.

She smashes one's nose with ease and delivers a heel kick to their chest, causing them to fold like a suitcase. She slices at another's stomach and throws a cat masked ANBU bodily against a wall.

Danzou is there then, his one eye widened in fear. Time seems to slow as she brings the whirring blade to his neck.

**One. **

**Two.**

**Three. **

**Four.**

**Five.**

**Six.**

**Seven.**

**Eight.**

**Nine. **

"_Do not ask questions needless questions about the target, B756. Just remember…_

Her blade pierces his neck and he gives a horrible scream. It goes through skin, muscle, bone…

Off. Danzou's head falls to the ground. His body follows shortly.

…_cut off the head of a snake and the body will die." _

His blood seeps through her clothing, but she hardly feels it. It is over.

**Ten. **

_Welcome, Haruno Sakura, to the ANBU._

* * *

"Sasuke," Naruto hisses in his ear, "Put me down!"

"Are you mad?" he replies, dodging a kunai, "Do you want to die?"

"I can fight!" Naruto snarls, "And while I'm on your back, you can't!"

Sasuke cannot help agree with this statement and curses. He throws a Katon at his pursuers and while they are busy dodging the flames, he sets Naruto down.

"Can you walk?" he asks as Naruto slowly pushes himself into a standing position

"Sure," Naruto says in a painful voice, "I just have to…"

"Don't push it," Sasuke says in annoyance, "This isn't going to wor-"

Their enemies launch themselves over the rooftops towards them. Sasuke manages to electrocute a few with his Nagashi Chidori, but then there is a huge explosion of water and he's smashed so hard against the door of a nearby shop that he sees stars. He blacks out for a few seconds, and by the time he drags himself back up, the fight it over.

"Do you think," Naruto asks sadly, standing in front of the prone bodies of about thirty Konoha shinobi, "I over did it?"

It looks like a tornado hit. The buildings look half blown away and even the ground has scars in it.

"What?" Sasuke starts, "What _is_ this?"

He wasn't aware that Naruto was this strong. The power he must have to put into this jutsu was phenomenal. How could he have been hiding it all this tim-

Naruto collapses onto the muddy ground.

"Ughh, used too much chakra," he says. Sasuke pulls him up, careful to avoid jostling his still broken ribs.

"Naruto," Sasuke says, "What kind of jutsu…"

"Yugito taught it to me," he says in a weak voice, "Or the theory anyway. She wasn't a wind type. Hate using it. Last time I did, someone died."

He coughs weakly, "First time I ever killed someone. And not that Akatsuki creep either…"

"You idiot," Sasuke hisses, "You shouldn't have done that. I'm going to have to carry you again."

"Well, excuse me for saving your ass," Naruto mutters, but without much energy.

Sasuke has no answer to this, and even if he did, he has no time to answer.

An enormous flare of chakra is his only warning before the remaining ninja of Konoha surround him. There must be at least seventy of them and Sasuke cannot fight them with Naruto in the state that he is.

"It is over, Uchiha Sasuke," an ANBU captain says, "Throw down your weapons."

"Shit," Naruto snarls, pushing himself up using Sasuke's arm as leverage, "Don't-"

Sasuke's mind races. He could easily perform a Transportation Jutsu right now, probably before they even noticed, but what about Sakura?

He'll have to use his ace in the hole. He pushes his haori aside and lets the curse seal take over. He hears gasps and smirks at the horror filled looks as his skin turns a dark grey and he sprouts wings.

"Sa-Sasuke?"

He ignores Naruto's stares and goes straight for the kill, trying to ignore the voice of Orochimaru in the back of his head.

"_Dear, dear, Sasuke-kun. Trying to finish my noble work?"_

"_Shut up," _Sasuke thinks, as he runs a Jounin through with his sword, _"You're dead. I killed you!"_

"_That's what you'd like to believe. But deep inside, you know it's not true. You know, eventually, this body will be mine. Don't you?"_

Sasuke grits his teeth and uses a burst of chakra to send everyone in a meter radius of him flying.

"_The more chakra you use, Sasuke-kun, the more you play into my hands!"_

There are just too many of them and Sasuke is getting tired. He leaps back, using his powerful wings to propel him and deactivates the curse seal. If he uses any more of his chakra, Orochimaru will-

There is a loud cry and the fighting stops all of the sudden. The ninja around him are staring at something just beyond his vision and Sasuke turns.

A severed head lies on the ground and the Konoha shinobi are looking at it like it is a ghost. Sasuke does not recognize the face, but he does recognize the figure who had thrown it.

"We're done," Sakura says. Her entire left side and wakizashi is covered in blood that obviously is not hers. She walks towards Naruto, putting his arm around her shoulder and pull him up by the waist.

Sasuke pushes through the shinobi to get to her, but they make no moves to stop him. All the fight has left them and they stare in horror at the man's head.

"Ho-Hokage-sama…" a man whimpers, starting Sasuke.

"_Sakura," _he thinks, _"To go so far…What happened?"_

"What have you done, Sakura?" a familiar voice asks and Sasuke regards Kakashi carefully.

"Maybe, _sensei_," Sasuke says quietly, "You should have taught us a bit more about loyalty than teamwork."

Kakashi flinches.

"If you look in the basement of ANBU headquarters," Sakura says emotionlessly, "You'll find what kind of man he truly was. Also, please check File 976 in Record Storage. You'll find certain documents have…aged strangely."

Sasuke frowns in confusion, but she speaks before he can, "Let's go, Sasuke."

He watches as she scans the village contemptuously. He grabs her arm, performs the hand seals and they disappear in a cloud of smoke.

The first thing Sakura does after they materialize is throw up. Naruto, who had fallen unconscious sometime in between spaces, slides off her shoulder and she freezes. Sakura stares at her scarred reflection in his sword.

"Sakura," he starts, "Are you…"

She reaches up and touches her blood-soaked hair curiously.

"I suppose," she mutters, "I always wanted to be a redhead."

"Sakura," Sasuke says, starting to get a bit concerned, "What-"

She crumples, barely avoiding the puddle of her sick.

"Fuck," Sasuke says to no one in particular.

(1) Body Substitute thing aka 'Let's turn into logs, shall we?' no Jutsu.

**A/N: Yeah, I cut off two of Naruto's fingers. I had to do it, I'm sorry. **

**The title of this chapter, of course, refers to Konohanasakuya-hime (what a mouthful) who is the Goddess of cherry blossoms. Yes, I just did that. You knew I couldn't resist using the names. I didn't put the 'Konohana' part in because I thought it'd be confused with Konoha. **

**Er, this is one of the longest chapters ever (and the most awesome!) I hope you enjoyed it because while it was a bitch to write, it's one of my favorite parts in the fic.**

**Also, yes, Sakura is a creep. **

…

**Moving on, I really do encourage you to review, because I want feedback especially on this chapter. Many thanks to my beta Sleeping Soundly! **


	12. Gott ist Tot

_Naruto exhales loudly and slumps against a tree. He gasps for breath and slides down to the ground._

_"Question," Tsuyu says from a tree branch on which she is resting comfortably and eating chocolate, "Why do you try to get as close to killing yourself as possible…or what? Because I'm confused."_

_Naruto rolls his eyes, "It's training! Training!" He gets up and stretches, gulping down water from his canteen. _

_"Training for what?" she asks archly. _

_Naruto opens his mouth and then closes it. Hmmm…_

_"Just training, you know," he says shrugging, unable to find words to explain his feelings._

_"That's stupid," she mutters._

_Naruto glares at the seventeen year old and crosses his arms defiantly._

_"Ha! Just you watch! I'm going to become the strongest ninja in the world and _then_ you'll be sorry!"_

"_Oh, really?" she says challengingly, jumping to the ground._

"_Uh huh!"_

_She smirks and ties up her hair, "Unfortunately," she drawls, "There's are things you'll never obtain by your so-called 'training.'"_

_Naruto scowls, "And those are?"_

_She tilts her head to the side, smiling, "Brains."_

_Naruto utters a war cry and charges forward, forming Kage Bushin as he goes. _

_Tsuyu wins, of course, but only by a little. She has the most control over the demon inside her out of all of them, second only to Yugito. The near-lose irritates her and spurs them both to train more and pester Yugito, their resident ex-Jounin, for more jutsu. _

_Naruto discovers his affinity for the Wind element and Tsuyu gains control over Earth. For a while, it almost feels like the rivalry Naruto had with Sasuke three years before, but there are differences and Naruto tries not to think on it. Things do not get better when he first hears the news of the murder of Orochimaru._

_But Naruto has never been weak and he forces himself to move on even though part of him wants to live in the past and never grow up. The circumstances get worse everyday, with Akatsuki and the new pact between the all the main countries to kill jinchuuriki on sight. Naruto runs into Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame two more times and nearly dies on both occasions. _

"_Fuck!" he screams in frustration several months later. He slams his hands against a tree, nearly shattering it._

"_Take a break, Naruto," Yugito intones, "You're almost out of chakra. There's no point in trying anything until you've recovered your strength."_

"_Just…" he pants, "One…more try…"_

_She shrugs and turns back to her book, "Suit yourself."_

_Naruto finally manages the technique several weeks later with the help of many Kage Bushin. He practices in an abandoned quarry and wipes it off the map. Even Gaara is impressed at his strength and Naruto feels so happy he could explode._

_His feelings on the matter change quite suddenly, however, the first time he uses it on a person. A team of Grass nin pursuing them through a forest get a blast of the raw energy and all are horribly injured. The body of the one that died by his hand directly, becoming the first person he ever killed, is unrecognizable. Naruto cannot even tell if it was a man or a woman. Their face and chest cavity had been completely shattered, their blood fanning out around them like nothing he had ever seen before. Neither Tsuyu, Gaara, nor Yugito understand when he does not speak for a week. _

_And still, things do not get better. Right after his sixteenth birthday, they hear rumors that the fifth and final jinchuuriki is still alive. _

"_He'll be really young, though," Tsuyu says as they pack, "About eight or nine, I think."_

_They take a ferry to the Water Country, and in a small village near the Village of the Hidden Mist, they find him. _

"_What the hell is this?" Naruto chokes, "What-"_

"_Be quiet," Tsuyu says. Her voice is emotionless. _

_She reaches down and slashes the chains binding the boy to a statue in the town square. He falls to the ground without a sound. She pick him up and cradles him to her chest. The small black-haired boy gives a whimper, but does not open his eyes._

"_Yugito," Tsuyu says softly, "Can you do me a favor?"_

_Naruto scrubs his eyes and turns to see the disgusted look on both Yugito and Gaara's faces. _

"_What do you want me to do?" Yugito asks, with uncharacteristic politeness. Yugito, being so much older than the rest of them, had always been slightly annoyed by them in her late teenage years. It is a mark of how angry she is, Naruto realizes, that she will do what Tsuyu says. _

"_Burn the village down."_

"_Aaa."_

_Naruto watches as Tsuyu brushes the small boy's hair out of his eyes and pulls bandages out of her pack. The boys cries out as she pulls up his tattered shirt and begins to bind his bruised and bleeding abdomen. _

_Yugito returns several minutes later, and with her comes the smell of smoke. Naruto watches as one by one the straw roofs catch fire and then the entire village is up in flames. People run screaming out of their houses and Naruto can honestly say that he doesn't give a damn. _

"_Yo-You bastards!" an old man coughs out, clutching his burnt side, "Why would you do such a thi-"_

"_No," Naruto hisses, beginning to tremble, "How could _you_ do such a thing!"_

_He points vehemently at the little boy Tsuyu is holding._

"_He's a monster!" a young woman cries out angrily, "An abomination!"_

"_HE'S A LITTLE KID!" Naruto bellows. His hands are shaking and it is becoming hard to think straight, "_You, _yes _you_, are the monsters!" _

_Before he can say anymore, he senses chakra and whirls around to see a team of Mist Jounin._

"_You're-" they snarl, eyes wide, "You're jinchuuriki!" _

_Tsuyu does not even look at them. She stands up and holds the little boy tightly to her chest._

"_Go ahead," Naruto finds himself saying, "I'll take care of this."_

"_Don't be foolish," Gaara starts, "You can't-"_

_But Naruto is beyond listening. The last thing he remembers is slitting the throat of one of the Jounin and then everything blends into a haze red and the Kyuubi's chakra. _

_When he wakes up next, to a smoke filled sky and decimated village, he is told that he has killed yet again. _

Chapter Twelve-

Naruto opens his eyes. He is lying in futon in a large room with tatami mats. He yawns and stretches, rubbing his eyes. After a few moments he realizes he doesn't know where he is. The room is definitely not a hotel room, and even if it was Naruto doesn't remember checking into one last nigh-

"_You filthy little monster! We know you know where they are!"_

"_Tell us or we'll make this a lot more painful!"_

"_Alright, you have two choices."_

"_Now you listen to me!" _

"_You can either tell or I cut off your fingers. One. By. One."_

"_Wrong answer."_

Naruto trembles and brings both hands up to cover his mouth. He feels the urge to throw up, but he pushes it away.

"_Calm down," _he thinks hysterically, _"Calm down, you're okay. You're okay, you're okay, you're okay…"_

The feeling passes, and Naruto slumps, gasping for breath. He grasps his mutilated left hand and shakes. He stays that way for a while and then lifts his head.

No. He will not hide under the covers like a child. He is an adult now, whatever his age may be and he'll stand up and deal with his problems like a man.

He finds there are a multitude of bandages on his chest under an unfamiliar yukata and braces himself for the pain as he stands up, letting the comforter fall to the ground. It comes, but it's not as bad as he thought it would be. He gingerly wraps an arm around his stomach and that's when he notices it. The blanket, which is a deep blue, is embroidered with Uchiha crests. A lot of Uchiha crests. Naruto rolls his eyes and smiles a bit. The smile disappears as he realizes that there are crests on his yukata as well. Okay, that's a bit weird….

He rubs the back of his head and it surprised to find that his hair is wet. Naruto shrugs and limps painfully to the decorated screen door. He slides it open and a voice says, "You really shouldn't be up, you know."

Naruto starts and looks around for a person. When he finds none, he begins to get a bit creeped out.

"Over here, idiot."

Naruto looks down to see a brown and white cat staring up at him. It's slightly overweight, has a strange scar on its forehead and appears to be wearing a haori.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto says rudely after a while, "And what kind of drugs am I _on_?"

"Hmph," the cat says, in a way that Naruto supposes to be in irritation, "So that's what I get for going out of my way to be nice."

And with that it turns around and saunters off in the opposite direction.

"He-Hey, kitty!" Naruto winces and limps after it, "Where are you going?"

He follows the cat down another hallway and through a door, after which the traditional decorating ends and there is only barren hallways full of pipes that smells weird.

Naruto says, "I have a question."

"Stop following me," it replies.

"Why exactly are you wearing a haori? I mean, sure talking animals is one thing, but wearing clothes?"

The cat stop and stares at him, "That's your _first _question? Not "where am I?" or "what happened?""

He scowls, "Stop talking to me like an idiot, because I'm…wait a cat just reprimanded me. This is the trippiest dream _ever_."

The cat snorts and begins to run.

"Wait, kitty!" Naruto moans and, feeling rather like he is in a fairytale, he limps after it, "Dammit, why does this always happen to me!"

The cat leads him to larger room, which is occupied by a woman who brings a whole new meaning to the term "crazy cat lady."

He gapes at her for a few seconds, and then, "Okay, what the fuck is going on?"

She blows smoke out of her pipe and shakes her crazy hairdo. Naruto can't figure out if he thinks it's cool or just plain creepy.

"Wait here," she says grumpily, petting on of the many cats surrounding her, "Sasuke-chan should be back soon. He went to out a few hours ago."

She shifts and grumbles about this not being a hotel service.

"Oh," Naruto says, feeling relieved that he had not just been abandoned, "That's goo-" He pauses, "Wait, did you just call him Sasuke-_chan_?"

"Yes…" she says frowning defensively.

"You say that to his face?"

"Yes…"

"And you're still alive! You're my hero!"

She gives him a strange look and then ignores him for the next half an hour.

Naruto amuses himself baiting the cats and then after a while they just all crowd around and sit on him, to the horror of the old woman who introduced herself as "Neko-baa."

"Ow…" Naruto hisses and glares at the cream-colored cat. He pulls his injured hand away, "Evil kitty."

"You should take care better of your paws," the old woman chides snottily, apparently taking offense that her cats are all over him instead of her.

"It's fine," Naruto grumbles, putting his left hand behind his back, "It just needs to heal."

The woman opens her mouth to retaliate, but she is cut off by a pretty blonde woman who strolls into the room.

"She just won't eat, Baa-chan! I've tried everything, but she just ignores me and doesn't even sa…" she trails off, staring at Naruto.

"Er…hey…" Naruto says, teasing a cat with the end of his obi.

"What-"

"Don't ask," Naruto advises her.

She gives him disturbed look and resumes talking.

"I don't know what to do," she says making herself a cup of tea in the kitchenette, "It's nearly been two days…"

Naruto spaces out, supposing she is talking about some old cat and falls asleep right there, using a particularly fat cat as a pillow while the talking kitty watches him in disgust.

"Wake _up_, Naruto!" Someone is shaking him, "Naruto!"

Naruto groans and lifts his head. Sasuke's face is blaringly close and it gives Naruto a start.

"Mrgh?" he says intelligently.

"What the hell," Sasuke says furiously, "are you doing here?"

Naruto sits up and dislodges a cat from his chest, "Uhh…sleeping…?"

"I meant _why_ are you sleeping here!"

Naruto regards Sasuke warily. He is wearing a cloak and is soaking wet. Maybe it's raining outside.

"I just fell asleep here," Naruto says, starting to get annoyed, "It's not like I planned it or anything. What's the big deal?"

"Hmm…" Sasuke says sarcastically, "let me think. Maybe because you're fucking _injured_, and lying out in the middle of the _floor_ after your chest has been reduced to a bloody _mess_ and your _fingers_ cut off isn't a good idea!"

Gah…scary Sasuke.

"O-Oi…" Naruto says, indignant and intimidated at the same time, "I-I can take care of myself you know. Besides, lying on the floor isn't a big deal. What's supposed to happen to me, get my eyes clawed out by these _nefarious _kitties?"

The talking cat and another cat beside it with a haori and forehead markings smirk at him. Hmm…maybe that scenario isn't as implausible as he made it sound.

"How about getting sick, dumbass!" Sasuke retaliates.

"Hello?" Naruto retaliated, "The Kyuubi's power and all that shit. Geez, I thought you were supposed to be smart."

There is a gasp of shock and Naruto looks up to see the blonde girl staring at him again.

"Oh, whoops," Naruto says, "Said too much, I suppose."

"No, really?" Sasuke mutters and the girl flees.

Naruto frowns and bites his lip. "She's scared of me now, isn't she?"

"That makes two of us," Sasuke says, dragging Naruto to his feet, "She's been terrified of _me_ every since I turned fifteen."

"Really?" Naruto asks as he is pulled away, "I thought she'd have a crush on you. Like every other girl on the planet."

Sasuke frowns, "No. And Sakura doesn't."

"Sakura-chan's not a girl. She's Sakura-chan. Er…where is she anyway?"

Sasuke doesn't say anything for a long time and Naruto clicks his tongue impatiently as they walked down the hallway full of pipes.

"C'mon," Sasuke mutters finally, and changes direction, "You have to see this for yourself."

Naruto doesn't like the sound of that.

* * *

Sakura has an acute feeling of how prisoners feel. Except she is not trapped in a room, she is trapped in her mind. Reliving the same scene over and over and over again until she could scream.

There is Sasuke, filled with furious indignation. Then Naruto, half-dead, but determined never to betray his friends. Tenten and Shikamaru swim before her eyes briefly before disappearing in a cloud of dust. Then, Lee with sad eyes and confusion. Danzou comes next, with a splatter of warm blood. Things get bleary after that.

An odd man who called himself Sai and then Ino, staring at her bloodstained form in horror. And then what seemed like the whole world staring at her. Damning her.

Sakura desperately wants to be damned.

But she also wants Naruto and Sasuke. She wants her parents, and Ino and all her old friends. She wants Tsunade-sama and Lee most of all, but those are two things, Sakura has learned, that she will _never _have again. Because Tsunade-sama is dead and if Lee hadn't hated her before, he'll definitely hate her now.

Sakura doesn't know how much time goes past. Both Sasuke and an unknown blonde woman come in several times to try and persuade her to eat, but Sakura ignores them.

The door slides opens again, and Naruto is there. He grabs the collar of the yukata she is wearing and hauls her up angrily.

"What the _fuck_ is wrong with you!" he growls.

"Let go," she says calmly, her voice dry from disuse.

He ignores her, "What the hell are you mopping about for?" He slams his hand against the tatami loudly, "You haven't been eating, haven't moved, haven't spoke! Are you giving up! Huh! Answer me!"

"Go to hell," she says, quite calmly.

"Don't give me that," he hisses, "Don't you dare! Stand up, Sakura-chan, because _believe me_ lying down and taking it makes you nothing better than trash."

It is not really Naruto's words that open her eyes. It is what he doesn't say. He does not say, "How dare you! _I _was the one who was tortured. _I _was the one who was hurt the most!"

He does not talk about himself at all. Sakura suspects that he does not even think of himself. He thinks about her and Sasuke and every other _fucking_ human being on the planet.

She lets her head drop and looks does not look at him.

"Don't think I don't see you," Naruto says, still looking furious, "And I'm not going let you sit here, because, fuck, you should know by now that I'm damn persistent."

"I tried so hard," she whispers after a moment, staring at the intricate patterns of the tatami, "I told myself, two and a half years ago, that I would not kill him."

Her hands shake (they've been doing that a lot lately) and she tries to swallow back her tears.

"I _swore_ it," she sobs out, "I swore that I would try, _try_, to take the higher road. That's why I left. But I couldn't…do even that one _small_ thing," she whispers.

She grips the bedding hard until she can no longer feel her fingers. She wishes the sensation would spread throughout her body, so she wouldn't be able to feel anything, anything at all.

"You tried, Sakura-chan," Naruto says, dropping her collar and squeezing her arm reassuringly.

"Don't," she says, "tell me it's the thought that counts. Because it doesn't. The only difference it made was that that _bastard _got two and a half more years to ruin people's lives."

There is a pregnant pause. Sakura looks at his bandaged left hand and tries not to cry.

"I was going to say that you tried your hardest," Naruto says, softly, "And that's all that you can do. You're better than me you know."

He has a strange look on his face. A sort of look that she isn't used to seeing. It makes him look older and wiser than she ever thought he could look. It is then that she begins to understand who Naruto truly is.

"I didn't even try to stop it," he continues, "I…Sakura-chan, the last time a person, not even a friend of mine, was hurt, I burned down a village and killed two people."

Sasuke jerks up and looks at Naruto suspiciously.

Sakura says nothing, but merely takes Naruto's hand and pulls off the bandages. Naruto winces as his mutilated hand is brought into view. She looks at the open tissue and bone sadly, and begins to heal them. She doesn't do anything but sit there, and try and fix Naruto's fingers for a long time. Slowly but surely, skin begins to creep up and cover the damaged tissue.

"Wow," Naruto says, impressed, inspecting the stumps where fingers had been, "Thanks, Sakura-chan."

She stands and pulls the yukata tighter around herself

"Is there a shower anywhere, Sasuke?"

"Down two flights in the third door on the left," he says, eyeing her warily.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto starts, but then pauses.

"I need to take a shower, Naruto," she says wearily.

The last thing she sees before she leaves the room is the confused frown on Sasuke's face, meaning he doesn't understand anything she tried to tell him.

She showers, washing herself for the first time in days. After a while, she turns off the water and gets out of the rather spacious shower, drying herself off and wrapping a towel around her waist. There is a large mirror above the sink, contrasting with the traditional décor and Sakura looks at her reflection sadly.

There was a time where she would spend hours getting ready in front of mirrors like this. Now she doesn't even care about the gaping scars all over her body. She feels old, looking into the mirror. It depresses her, for some reason, thinking she has changed so much. She feels like she is drowning with no hope of rescue, is falling down a deep, dark, hole.

"I think," she whispers to the sound of water droplets falling from the showerhead, "I'm may be going crazy."

And at the same time, Sakura begins to realize…

"So this is what it feels like," she murmurs, applying the acid solution to her scars, "to be digging your own grave."

* * *

Naruto, Sasuke knows, is hurt a lot more than he lets on. He looks worried and troubled after Sakura leaves, but falls asleep soon again.

Using his lap. Sasuke supposes it is better than some flea-bitten cat, but that doesn't make him feel any better about the contact. He shifts around awkwardly and ends up pressed against one of the screen doors.

Sasuke is just self-aware enough to know this is probably not a good sign.

He wishes Naruto would wake up, but figures he probably needs the rest.

Naruto murmurs things in his sleep. Things like "stop" or "leave me alone." "I won't betray my friends" comes next and Sasuke weaves a hand into that stupid blond mop and attempts to comfort him, with little success.

"Stop it, idiot," Sasuke says, shaking him, "It's just a dream."

Naruto trembles and curls into himself. Sasuke does not know what to do. He's never been good at emotions or being sentimental. He doesn't know how to solve his problems without a fight. He has already killed those who did this to him, but it isn't better. Why isn't it better?

"_I didn't even try to stop it_,_"_ Naruto had said. But what did that mean? Stop what? And why? Sasuke trusts Naruto enough to believe that those he killed deserved it. (Sakura…not so much.)

But then, why did he sound so regretful?

On the other hand, maybe Sasuke doesn't know who Naruto is. He thought he did. He thought Naruto was good-natured and optimistic, almost to the point of naivety.

But with the combination of that powerful jutsu and murders, Sasuke isn't sure he knows anything anymore. Certainly, Naruto is hiding things, and Sasuke is determined to find out what.

But for some reason, he is hesitant to ask. Naruto sleeps on and off over the course of the next few days and Sakura walks around like a zombie through the endless halls of the complex.

With everything going on, Sasuke hardly thinks of the seven ANBU back in Konoha, dead by his hand. He knows he should probably be worried about what this means, but he doesn't have the energy.

Nearly a week after Konoha, Sasuke slides open the door of the room Naruto has been sleeping in. To his surprise, Naruto is right before him, hand outstretched, about to perform the same motion.

Naruto frowns at him, to his surprise.

"I was just about to come and find you," he says, "Where are my clothes?"

He tugs on the yukata in obvious irritation, "I'm sick of wearing this thing."

"Your shirt was saved. Your pants and other garments…were not," Sasuke replies. He does not mention that the only reason he didn't burn the shirt is because he knows how much Naruto likes it.

Naruto scoffs and mutters the word 'garments' under his breath mockingly. Sasuke narrows his eyes. Naruto is faking, deliberately acting like he usually does.

"Soo…" Naruto says impatiently, putting his hands on his hips, "Where are they? I mean, I know you like pretending that me and Sakura-chan are part of your harem or something, but-"

"Excuse me?" Sasuke interjects icily.

Naruto rolls his eyes, "The fans, bastard, the fans! They're fucking everywhere! On the sheets, on the comforter, the pillow cases, this yukata!" He crosses his arms and huffs, "I mean seriously, you Uchiha, why don't you just tattoo it on your asses and be done with it!"

"Stop it," Sasuke says, unable to keep the words from bursting out.

"Stop what?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

The blond frowns, "What are you-"

"You _know_ what I'm talking about."

Naruto pauses and his face falls. It morphs into the same expression he wore when talking to Sakura, days before. His shoulders seem to shrink and he slumps.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs, "I just…it's easier, you know, dealing with everything."

Sasuke doesn't know what to say to this, because he's never pretended to be happy when he's not. He's never felt the need to.

"Naruto-" he starts, not sure exactly what he's going to say, but Naruto cuts him off by throwing his arms around him.

"Naruto…" he says uncomfortably, "What-"

"Just don't," Naruto whispers, "Just…for right now…" he turns and kisses Sasuke right on the mouth, sliding his hands down his waist, "Please just…"

"No," Sasuke hisses, as Naruto kisses down his jaw line, "You're not…you shouldn't…"

But Naruto isn't listening and pushes the folds of his haori aside, pressing warm hands to his chest.

"Naruto!" Sasuke says firmly, "Don't do-"

"Please," Naruto whispers, "I just want you to…"

And he sounds so heartbroken that Sasuke allows himself to be dragged into the room and into Naruto's bed.

"_This isn't right_," he thinks, but knows that there is nothing he can do about it.

**A/N: Annnnngsty…Oh, angst, what would my fics be without you? Not much, I can tell you that right now.**

**Anyway, on a lighter note, last chapter was a record for reviews! Hooray! **

**Note: the title of this chapter means "God is dead" in German (A reference to Nietzsche, a German philosopher, who proclaimed that humanity had killed God with their hypocrisies.) **

**So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review! (Also, many thanks to Sleeping Soundly!)**


	13. Discourse Leads To Disclosure

_"Are you and Lee dating?" Ino asks her, plopping down at the table in the library next to her._

_Several months have passed after Sakura stops talking to Kakashi, and Sakura has eaten dinner with Lee several times, between missions. Sakura supposes that Ino must have heard about that and misunderstood._

_"No," she says, looking up in surprise from her book on ancient medical jutsu from the west, "Why do you say that?"_

_Ino gives her a look of disbelief, "Oh, c'mon, you guys go everywhere together! Didn't you two go to a tea ceremony last week?"_

_Sakura thinks that if Ino put as much work into ninjutsu as she did into discussing the local gossip she would be a Chuunin already._

_"Yes, we did," she answers coolly, "But you don't understand. We're not dating. He just heard about a place in the next town over that-"_

_"So, you don't like him, then?" Ino asks, leaning forward, pushing her breasts forward in a way that Sakura used to be jealous of._

_"No."_

_Relieved that the matter is cleared up, Sakura returns to her book._

_"Then stop leading him on!" Ino says, sounding angry for some reason._

_Sakura blinks up again, even more confused._

_"Excuse me?"_

_"You…oh, c'mon, you have to know he likes you!"_

_Sakura scoffs, "That was two years ago, Ino. We've both changed since then."_

_"Maybe you have," Ino says, "But I know he likes you. Everyone does. Hell, I'm sure even Hokage-sama does!"_

_"Ino…"_

_"So, I'm telling you to stop leading him on," Ino continues seriously, "It's not fair to him, okay? He might start to think that you like him back (if he doesn't already) and then things will get messy. I…I thought you knew."_

_Sakura simply looks at her for a long time._

_"It's not like that," she says finally, "We're not…Ino, we just hang out. Like you and I do. It's not…I'm not like that anymore. I don't need that…I'm not you."_

_The second after she says it she regrets it. Ino's face contorts and she draws herself up angrily._

_"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" she snarls, not bothering to keep her voice down, causing several librarians to glare, "Just what are you suggesti-"_

_"Ino, I'm sorry," Sakura says pleadingly, "I don't know why I said that."_

_"Well, I do!" Ino hisses, "You've heard the rumors, huh? You've heard that Yamanaka Ino is a filthy little whor-"_

_"Ino!" Sakura says, cutting her off, "Ino, I don't care, dammit! I don't care who you date or…or…"_

_"Say it!" Ino demands._

_"…sleep with," Sakura whispers forlornly, "It's not you, okay? It's me. I'm just…I don't want that anymore. It's not about you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."_

_Ino glares down at her angrily and then flops back into the chair. Neither of them says anything for a long time and Sakura stares miserably down at her book._

_"Sakura," Ino says finally, sounding tired, "You're not still in love with Sasuke, are you?"_

_"No," Sakura says bitterly._

_Silence again. _

_"I overreacted," Ino says stiffly, "It was wrong of me."_

_"I'm sorry."_

_Ino sighs and covers her eyes with a manicured palm, "Just be careful with Lee, okay."_

_Sakura says nothing._

_"You should listen to me, you know," she says, sounding suddenly malicious, "I have experience, remember?"_

_Sakura chokes and opens her mouth to apologize once again, but Ino gets up and walks out of the library before she can get a word out._

_She and Ino don't talk for another year. But for some reason, their conversation sticks in Sakura's mind and won't go away. It's stupid, she knows. Lee became infatuated with the longhaired, stupid girl who had spotted a genjutsu that even a fly could detect. She is proud to no longer be that person. It therefore stands to reason that he's no longer interested in her. So why does she care?_

_But sometimes when they're together, and Lee smiles and says some stupidly optimistic thing, Sakura feels strange. She finds herself smiling when he rescues a cat from a tree only to get scratched by it on the way down. She celebrates with him when the final vestiges of his spine injury sustained by a Sound nin during the Chuunin exam heal. She cries at his side when Maito Gai hangs near death as a result of a rogue team of Rock nin. _

_"Over here, Sakura-san!" he cries energetically, waving around a stick of dango they purchased only minutes ago at a festival booth, "The best place to see fireworks is right here! I found it a few years ago with Tenten and Neji!"_

_"Al-Alright!" she calls laughingly at his enthusiasm, leaning over to catch her breath, "Have you gotten faster? I can barely keep up with you anymore!"_

_He beams at her, "You noticed! I have been training especially hard with Gai-sensei on my speed!"_

_Sakura grins back despite herself and a large blue flash fills the sky. She goes rigid, grabbing for the several shuriken under her yukata that she has taken to strapping to her chest and thighs even when she isn't on duty. But it is only a firework, brilliant and blue against the dark sky. Lee whoops ecstatically and nearly upsets his dango. _

_"C'mon, Sakura-san!" he shouts, scaling a tree, "Up here!" _

_Sakura pulls up the hem of her bright red yukata and leaps up to the tall branch Lee is standing on. Several other brightly colored fireworks go off, startling her again. Green, gold, red, orange, and Lee cheers, eyes full of innocent wonder._

_And at that moment Sakura wants to kiss him more than anything in the world. _

_A month after her revelation that Ino might have been right after all, her shishou informs her that it she if she keeps up the good work, she will become a Jounin within the year. The information startles her and forces her to think farther into the future. She does some research and finds that at the moment, the average lifespan of a Konohan Jounin is 26 years. A little more than ten years then. Right. She can do that. _

_But, Sakura knows that the years will pass quickly. Life is short, as it took the disappearances of two teammates-friends- for her to learn. So she will have to do something about this crush, or whatever it is, before it is too late. _

_"Lee," she says a month or so before her sixteenth birthday, when they are cooling down after a long day of training, "Do you still like me?"_

_Lee doesn't seem to understand the question at first, and then turns as red as her shirt. _

_"S-Sa-Sakura-san," he splutters._

_She feels horribly embarrassed at this point and is probably blushing too, but refuses to back down. _

_Lee quickly composes himself, "Of course," he says, though his cheeks are still burning. He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, smiling a bit, "Ever since I first saw you."_

_Sakura had it all planned out, but this throws her totally of track. She has no idea what to say. _

_Lee is still smiling contently as if this is all he could ever want and she finds that she can't help herself and kisses him right then and there._

_It is a bad kiss. Lee is too shocked to do anything but freeze and despite all her bravado, Sakura's never actually kissed anyone before. But it's the start of something that will eventually become the most important thing in her life, so it doesn't really matter._

_People talk a lot after they 'officially' start seeing each other. Her parents for one. They are confused and uneasy with Lee. _

_"It's not that he's not a nice boy," her mother says worriedly, "But he's a bit…strange, don't you think?"_

_Lee's parents are bewildered as well, but Lee tells her it's not anything new. They've apparently had no idea what goes on in his life ever since he entered the ninja academy. _

_She turns sixteen, becomes a Jounin along with Hyuuga Neji, and eventually joins the ANBU. She and Ino make up somehow and the blonde girl starts asking all sorts of other awkward questions (as if she hadn't done enough already.) Six months later, Ino is horrified to find that she and Lee haven't done 'it' yet._

_"Do you even want to?" she demands, lounging in Sakura's room._

_Sakura shrugs, "I guess. But I figure since I'm moving in with him the second I turn seventeen, it doesn't matter."_

_Ino stares and drops the nail file she was using to perfect her nails. _

_"A-Are you kidding?" she whispers, "You're moving in with him?"_

_Sakura blinks, "Yes."_

_Ino stares for a few more seconds. It begins to make her feel uncomfortable._

_"So…is he like the one?" she asks after a while._

_"'The one?'" _

_"I mean…are you in love with him or something?"_

_Sakura gives her a look, "Of course. Why else would I move in with him?"_

_"Just like that?" Ino asks weakly, "Dammit, you date one guy and you're done! Me, I go through half the village and still haven't found one yet!"_

_Sakura smiles sympathetically, but cannot help but feel happy._

_Sakura's parents are not pleased when she announces her plans to move out, but they can't do anything about it. Her father tries to convince her that she isn't ready to live on her own yet, and Sakura very nearly laughs in his face. Not ready to live by herself? Sakura's been killing people since she was sixteen. She's pretty sure she can remember how to buy groceries. _

_Lee finally caves in and has sex with her after a month of living together and afterwards Sakura feels a sudden wave of pity for her blonde friend. Poor Ino, not being able to find someone who is as important to her as Lee is to Sakura. _

_Everything is perfect for a while, but then life rears its ugly head again and Sakura returns from a mission to find that Lee is in the hospital._

_She rushes there, trembling with anxiety because Shizune can't tell her exactly what his condition is. _

_It is bad. Lee's lung has been punctured and she spends hours pacing in the hospital waiting room before the doctors come out and tell her he is going to be alright. Weeks go by until he is allowed to walk again and the first thing he does after he takes his first steps is hug her._

_"Sorry for worrying you," he murmurs into her ear._

_"Don't apologize," she whispers, holding back tears and hugs him gently, careful not to hurt him._

_He asks her to marry him then, and it doesn't even cross her mind to say no._

Chapter Thirteen-

For the first time in a week, Sakura leaves the complex and sneaks out into the city that surrounds it. There aren't many ninja around to blend in with, she finds, so she is careful to stay in the shadows to avoid attracting attention. This is doubly important because she broke her old mask before Konoha and hasn't had time to get a new one.

It takes her nearly three hours, going from bar to bar, to find any. Finally, near the outskirts, she finds a group of four Leaf Jounin who appear to be celebrating the end of a successful mission. She hides under the overhang of the bar and listens to their conversation, careful to mask her chakra. Most of it is about women and the idiot target of theirs, but after half an hour, Sakura is rewarded for her pains.

"Oi, taishou, any news on who'll be the next Hokage?" one asks between sips of sake.

"Are you kidding?" a man with spiked hair and a tattooed face replies, "It's only been a week! And the higher-ups are still trying to work out that whole Danzou fiasco."

"Yeah, taishou," another says, "What's up with that, really? All they told us was that if we see Haruno Sakura, we're supposed to tell her the village wants to talk to her. I mean, she cut off his fucking head! But then we all hear these rumors about half the ANBU being under inquiry for torture and Rokudaime-sama being in charge of all this illegal activity."

The others around them gave sounds of agreement and turned to their captain.

"_So they want to talk to me, huh?"_ Sakura thinks, _"Interesting…"_

"I haven't heard anything other than rumors," the captain admits, "However, it's pretty much assured that he framed Godaime-sama."

There is a pause in the conversation.

"Fuck," one with a scarred neck whispers, "I mean, I knew that he wasn't the nicest guy around, but I never would've thought that he-"

"None of us did," the captain says bitterly, "In retrospect, it should've seemed obvious though. Danzou and Godaime-sama had never seen eye-to-eye, especially since Danzou lost out on being Hokage to her teacher. And the Council never really appreciated her methods either, so they sided with him when the question came up."

"And Haruno Sakura was her student, right?" one asks, "So she probably knew that Rokudai- _Danzou_ was lying, that's why she killed him."

The captain nods, "Were all of you there, that night, a week ago?"

They all nod except one.

"I've heard about it," he says, and motions for him to continue.

"Well, you'll remember that before she escaped with the Uchiha and the jinchuuriki, she said something about files."

"Yeah…"

"Well, they looked at the files she was referring to, of course. I heard several Council members talking about it. Apparently they were the documents that Danzou submitted as evidence of Godaime-sama's betrayal. And I _think_," he lowers his voice and leans in, "that they were fake."

"'Fake?'" his subordinates echo.

"Wouldn't they notice that, though? Before, I mean?"

The captain shakes his head, "I'm sure you know that all official documents from the Hokage come on special paper. The documents that Danzou submitted, to be official, had to be on that paper. I guess he couldn't steal that stuff, you know, with the cane and all. So he must have created a really good copy. However, it must have aged in a way that the official paper doesn't over the years it sat in the files. I'm sure Haruno must have figured that out too."

"But wait a second," another interjects, "If Haruno knew that the Fifth wasn't a traitor, then why didn't she say anything? I mean, she only left six _months_ after her teacher was killed."

"I think Danzou was watching her at the time," the captain says, "He kicked her out of the ANBU and even revoked her license to be a ninja once he became Hokage."

"Really?"

"I didn't hear about that."

The captain shrugs uncomfortably, "They tried to keep it quiet at the time," he says.

"But why didn't he go after her too?" the scarred one asks, "I mean, didn't they try to execute her assistant, what was her name-"

"Shizune," the captain says.

"Yeah, and even _Jiraiya-sama, _after he showed up. Before they escaped, anyway. You can't say there wasn't any evidence, because they didn't have evidence for those two, right?"

"Well," the captain says, leaning in again, "Haruno had something that Shizune and Jiraiya-sama didn't."

"What?"

"The truth is," the captain whispers, "that before the Fifth was taken, she-"

Sakura clears her throat, stepping out of the shadows. They can gossip about her and that bastard Danzou all they like, but she's not going to listen to them say anything bad about Tsunade-sama.

"Y-You!" one of the subordinates with an eyebrow piercing gapes, upsetting his sake. Sakura watches as it trickles down the uneven table and spills onto the floor.

"Haruno?" the tattooed captain croaks, "How the hel-"

"So Konoha wants to talk with me?" she says, cutting to the chase, "Fine. Tell them to meet me at dusk in two weeks in the mountains by the Northern Border Post between old Sound and the Lightening Country."

They stare at her.

"If they're not there, I'm going to be pissed," she threatens and then turns to leave.

"W-Wait," the scarred man calls out.

She turns and raises an eyebrow impatiently.

"So…so , it's true then," he stutters, "Rokudai- I mean, Danzou, really-"

"That's right," she says and then turns away.

She wants to say something else, but cannot force the words out.

"Tell them to be there," she says finally, without looking at them, "Or else."

She returns to the Uchiha weapons complex.

* * *

There is an arm around his neck. Sasuke stiffens, grabs it and nearly breaks it in two before he realizes it is only Naruto. Who hasn't even woken up at this point and is drooling on his pillow.

It takes him a while to remember what occurred the night before and when he does, disgust fills him and he feels like vomiting. He sits up, and pushes Naruto's arm off him. Naruto groans and reaches out for him sleepily, but Sasuke moves out of the way his hands. He nearly stumbles over the comforter in his haste and grabs a yukata before walking straight out the door.

Cursing, he refrains from childishly slamming the bathroom door behind him. He sees his reflection in the mirror, however, pale and weary looking, and smashes it.

_Disgusting_, he thinks. He really is no better than Orochimaru.

He turns on the shower as hot as it can go and lets the water burn him. He leans his head against the tiles and clenches his fists, trying not to unleash his anger on other objects in the bathroom.

What is wrong with him? Is he so weak that filth like Orochimaru can corrupt him so easily? He gives up trying to hold back and makes to smash his fist against the tile. A well-tanned hand grabs his wrist at the last second and Sasuke turns in fury to behold a soaking wet Naruto only in his boxers.

"Have you gone completely mad?" Naruto asks, eyebrows furrowed in concern, "Shit, it's hot! Turn that off, will you?"

"Get out!" Sasuke snarls, pulling his wrist out of Naruto's grip with more force than is probably necessary.

Naruto looks hurt for a second, but then his expression goes cross.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Are you trying to burn your skin off or something?"

He turns off the water, crosses his arms over his bare chest, and glares like a child. "Can you leave me alone for one second?" Sasuke hisses, furious and past the point where he cares about any sense of dignity.

Naruto frowns in confusion, "Geez, what's your problem?"

He takes a few steps closer to him and Sasuke has to look away when he sees the limp.

He pushes past him and grabs the yukata he only threw away minutes ago.

"Sasuke…" Naruto sounds confused, "Look, about…before, I shouldn't have-"

"Shut up."

It's not Naruto's fault. It has nothing to do with him. It's all _him_, him and his infernal weakness-

"Fuck you!" Naruto snarls, "I'm trying to apologize, you ass!"

"Go to hell."

Naruto slams a hand against the wall, "That's it, you motherfucker!" He grabs the collar of Sasuke's yukata, "I'm sorry I got into your _highness's_ personal bubble! Maybe next time I'll just-"

"Don't an idiot," Sasuke says disdainfully, "It doesn't concern yo-"

Naruto slams him against the wall and kisses him brutally, sliding his hands down the backs of Sasuke's thighs painfully. Sasuke digs his nails into his shoulders and bites back furiously, wanting to hurt him as much as possible for _daring_ to do this to hi-

The door opens and there is a loud groan. Sasuke glances over in horror to see Sakura spin around.

"Oh, please…" she says, facing away from them, "Can you two stop being such _men_ for once?"

Naruto turns red and hastily lets go, backing up in mortification. "What do you want?" Sasuke asks angrily, releasing his grip on Naruto. His fingernails come away red.

"Get dressed," she says, "We've got problems."

Sasuke frowns, taking in the fact that her hair is windswept and she's wearing a cloak.

"Where were you?"

"I ran into a couple of Leaf nin," she says, not answering his question.

Sasuke stiffens, "They know we're here?"

Shit. That's not good. His parents would never forgive him if _Konoha_ got hold of one of the last secret Uchiha bases. Not to mention the trouble it would put Neko-baa, her granddaughter, and all the cats through…

"No. Apparently, they found out what a bastard Danzou was. They sent out a message to all their shinobi." She starts to pace and Sasuke pulls his yukata closed uncomfortably. "They want to talk."

"You didn't agree, did you?" he asks in annoyance.

He wants nothing to do with Konoha, now even more than ever.

Sakura's lips thinned, "You don't have to come."

"Wait, I don't understand," Naruto says, "Why would you want to talk to them anyway?"

"For once, I agree with the idiot," Sasuke says irritably.

"I might be able to get them off our backs," she replies, "The ones I came across almost seemed thankful that he was dead. I suppose he wasn't that popular when he was alive, even _before_ they knew what he was."

"Where did you agree to meet them?"

"Two weeks from now in the mountains on the border between the Lighting Country and old Sound."

Sasuke thinks very carefully over this. The mountains could be a bad place in case of an ambush. However, it can work the other way around if they get there early enough.

"Stakeout, then?" he says with an upward twitch of the lips.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to," she says sliding down the tile wall, smiling tiredly, "They don't really care about you two anymore. The Danzou thing really shocked them."

"Of course we'll come," Naruto says, hands on his hips, "We're not just going to ditch you!"

The way Naruto says this causes Sasuke to falter, to pause. He doesn't know why, but something-_something_- hurts, right in his chest. He glances at the bloody marks on Naruto's shoulders, and exhales deeply.

"It'll take us about a week to get to the border from here. We should leave early if we don't want to risk being ambushed," he says in a matter-of-fact tone.

Sakura looks up in surprise, and then a smile breaks out over her scarred face.

"Right then. I'll go pack."

She exits then, leaving the two of them alone.

"Sasuke," Naruto says seriously, "Look, I-"

"You heard what she said, didn't you?" Sasuke scoffs, though he keeps even the tiniest bit of malice out of his voice, "We should pack. Idiot."

Naruto smiles for a tenth of a second and then scowls deeply.

"Hah! I know that, bastard," he says, slinging an arm around his shoulders, "You don't have to tell _me_ everything, you know."

"Actually," Sasuke says, picking up Naruto's arm like it is something incredibly disgusting and removing it from his person, "I do."

At the end of it all, Sasuke's nose is broken, but he doesn't really care.

* * *

They leave early the next day, and Naruto can't help notice that the crazy cat lady and the blonde woman look relieved to see the backs of them. While they stop for lunch in a small town, Sakura-chan purchases a new mask. This one is a plain white, so she carves blue lines into it that look suspiciously similar to the scars on her face. Naruto thinks this is more than slightly creepy, but for the sake of teamwork doesn't say anything.

As the asshole intended, it takes about a week to reach the meeting place. It involves crossing through a hell of a lot of Fire territory, which makes Naruto nervous, but he keeps his mouth shut. Sasuke and Sakura-chan are just as nervous-he can tell-and talking about it probably isn't going to help.

After a bit of searching, Naruto finds a cave that is large enough for three people to stay in for a while. Sakura collects branches of trees that don't give off a lot of smoke and Sasuke goes out to find something that's edible. Naruto is left to stare at the small fire as Sakura-chan takes out all their cooking utensils.

Finally, when he can't stand it any longer, he makes an excuse and goes out for a smoke. He finds an excluded ledge and lies back against the cold granite. He lights a cigarette and inhales deeply, closing his eyes. He sighs, feeling the tension slip out of his shoulders.

It's not that he doesn't know that smoking isn't exactly the best habit to have. But, at the same time, he's not addicted; most of the time he doesn't feel the need to smoke. It's only when he's really nervous or is under pressure. And, more importantly, being the holder of the Kyuubi has its perks. It isn't like he's going to die of lung problems. It's probably the only _good_ thing about being a jinchuuriki, but Naruto'll take it for what it's worth.

Chakra invades his senses and Naruto draws a kunai, spinning around. His blade grazes its target and Naruto looks up to see Sasuke with blood running down his cheek.

"You're faster than I remember," he observes coolly. Naruto drops the kunai and grapples at his quickly beating heart, "Fuck, don't do that! Do you _want_ to die?"

Sasuke gives him a superior look and doesn't answer the question.

"What is _that_?" he asks, pointing to the cigarette in Naruto's other hand.

Naruto realizes his mistake too late and attempts to hide it behind his back, "Uhh…nothing?"

Sasuke raises an eyebrow and takes a step forward. Naruto, not liking the look on his face, takes a step back and subsequently find himself backed up against the mountain.

"You smell like smoke," Sasuke says, much too close to his face for his peace of mind.

"Oh, c'mon," Naruto says in irritation, "You're not my mother. What does it matter to you?"

"Oh, nothing," Sasuke says flippantly, but leans over and rests his upper arms on Naruto's shoulders.

Naruto drops his cigarette.

"It's just a particularly _revolting_ habit, that's all," he continues in a deceptively light tone.

Naruto, who has pretty much stopped listening at his point, slips his hands down Sasuke's waist. Sasuke leans forward, mere centimeters away from his mouth.

"Which means," Sasuke breathes, "if you don't remove your hands, I'm going to cut them off."

Naruto starts, knocking his head against the rock.

"Oww…" he groans, bring his hands up to cup his head.

"Hmph," Sasuke intones, and turns away, "Stop smoking, idiot.

Naruto groans and then looks up to glare at him. Sasuke smirks and jumps down from the cliff.

"Fu-Fucking tease!" Naruto shouts, gesturing rudely at the other man.

Sasuke does not even look at him, but waves dismissively at him from below.

"Ass," Naruto snarls, leaning back and lighting another cigarette, "Made me drop it! Doesn't he fucking know how much these cost…"

Sasuke apparently does not know the value of his precious cigarettes and makes every effort to ruin them over the next few days. Naruto can understand Sakura-chan's disdain of them-hell, she's a medic-nin, after all-but Sasuke? The only conclusion he can come to is that the fucker is just doing it to annoy him. And it's working.

However, Naruto's never been one to give up, so he retaliates in a way that is truly his own. Basically a bunch of lame pranks that only twelve-year olds would fall for. None of these actually work, of course, but the payoff is the insulted look on Sasuke's face, as if Naruto really thinks he's stupid enough to fall for them.

Finally, the day comes when they are supposed to meet up with representatives from Konoha.

Naruto wakes up with his stubs of fingers burning. He sits up and holds them, grimacing and biting his lip. It isn't the first time this has happened. Sakura-chan called them 'phantom pains,' but it hardly feels phantom. In fact, it alternates between feeling like he is getting his fingers cut off all over again and as if his fingers are still a part of his body, even though he knows they are rotting on the floor of that dank cell.

He grips his left hand harder and feels blood drip down his chin.

"Naruto?" he hears Sakura-chan mumble, and then, "Oh, dammit, stop that!"

He glances up at her scarred visage, and attempts to smile. It doesn't work out so well.

She plops down beside him and grips his shoulders bracingly.

"Are you sure," he gasps, sweat rolling down his cheeks, "there isn't a way to stop this?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Naruto," she whispers, "Painkillers don't even work, because it's just a mindset."

"Right," he hisses and closes his eyes.

It is a few minutes before it passes completely, and when it does Naruto exhales loudly and slumps on his bedroll.

He wipes the sweat off his face and smiles weakly up at Sakura-chan and Sasuke, who is hovering in the background.

"So…" He grins and stretches. "What's for breakfast?"

Sasuke snorts and Sakura-chan smiles and claps him on the back.

Dusk comes all too quickly, and the three of them communicate by radio from three different positions.

"I see them," Sasuke says minutes after the sun goes down, "They're a lot of them. Five are out in the open, but at least ten are in hiding."

"Shit!" Sakura-chan snarls, voice blurred slightly by static, "Ambush?"

"I can't tell," Sasuke whispers, "It might just be a precaution."

"Are we going in?" Naruto asks, getting antsy.

There is a long silence.

"I'm going in," Sakura-chan says, "You two don't have to co-"

"Not negotiable," Sasuke replies, before Naruto can even open his mouth.

Naruto smiles and inhales the cold night air.

"Okay. Let's leaps from cliff to cliff, using a few treetops in-between. He and Sakura-chan reach Sasuke's position at the same time and all three of them stare down at the deceptively small party below.

"Ready?" Sakura-chan asks.

"Yup!" Naruto says, but his fingers-or lack thereof- tingle.

Sasuke grips the hilt of his sword and Sakura-chan removes the mask. They jump down to land several hundred meters in front of group of Konoha Council members and ninja. Even in the dark, Naruto can recognize Kakashi-sensei's form and he inhales sharply.

"_Don't panic," _he tells himself and takes a deep breath.

"So," Kakashi-sensei says softly, "You came."

"Of course," Sakura-chan answers, shoulders tense.

Kakashi-sensei runs his one eye of him and Sasuke, and then turns back to her.

"Haruno Sakura," he starts, face impassive, "Are you ready?"

Sakura-chan's face twists, "Of course," she repeats.

"Then let's begin."

**A/N: Sorry, about the cliffhanger, I just have too much fun writing them…**

…**Yeah, I have pretty much nothing to say about this chapter, except sorry for the wait, I was really busy during the past few weeks and this chapter ended up getting pushed back. **

**Also, unless you are the holder of a tailed-demon, don't smoke! It's bad for you!**

**Anyway, please review and many thanks to my amazing beta! **


	14. On the Edge of the Horizon

_Kakashi's face is completely blank, and Sasuke can't tell what he's thinking. _

_Sasuke knew there was something wrong when he actually showed up on time in a puff of white smoke. He told them he had something important to say and Sakura said that they should probably wait for Naruto to show up. Even if he is stronger than Sasuke expected him to be, he thought privately, it would be completely like him to forget to set his alarm. But then the look in Kakashi's one visible eye changed and he said…he said…_

"_What?" Sakura gasps beside him, bringing both hands up to cover her mouth. Sasuke feels cold, cold, cold, and then, "What are you talking about?" he asks, frowning. This has to be some stupid joke, he thinks. Of Naruto's maybe. But why would Naruto pretend to be Kakashi and tell them…_

"_Is he okay?" Sakura asks quickly, "Is he in the hospital? What happened?"_

"_I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to," their teacher says stoically, "I wasn't told the reason. It's classified."_

"_But what _happened _to him?" Sakura says, looking close to tears._

"_There's nothing more I can do," Kakashi says, his voice cold._

"_So that's it then," Sasuke says, partly not able to come to terms with the fact that this isn't some twisted dream._

"_Yes," Kakashi says with hesitation, "It might take a while for a new teammate to be assigned, so we'll be a man short for while. That's all for today."_

"_Wai-" Sakura cries, but Kakashi is already gone. _

"_He's absolutely gone!" Sakura tells him the next time they're waiting for Kakashi for their mission to start, "I checked everywhere! No one has seen him! His apartment is completely emptied out and there's a 'For Rent' sign in the window! I checked the hospital, the ramen shop that he always hung out at, I asked Iruka-sensei and he didn't know either. He told me he had made an official inquiry, and they docked his pay for a month!"_

"_What?" The rest he knew, but this surprises Sasuke, "Really?"_

"_I even went to see Sandaime-sama, but the guards at the door wouldn't let me in!" _

"_Kakashi has been eating plain rice lately for lunch," Sasuke remembers, "You think the same thing happened to him?"_

_Sakura brings her fists up to her eyes and for a second Sasuke thinks she's going to cry. He hopes she doesn't. He hates crying women. _

"_I…I asked a lot of people about him. You know, if they'd seen him. Iruka-sensei and the owner of the ramen shop where the only people who had anything nice to say about him. You should have seen their faces when I asked them! Even my own mother! Maybe it's because I used to always complain about him, but do you know what she said? She said 'Good riddance.' I knew a lot of other people didn't like him, but I thought that was because he was annoying. But they really…they really hated him."_

"_This doesn't make any sense!" Sasuke says in a rare moment of anger and slams his fist against the railing of the bridge._

_Sakura looks at him in shock, but then turns away to stare down at the water, "I…" she whispers, "I don't understand. What's going on? What happened to Naruto?"_

_Sasuke has no answer._

_Kakashi refuses to answer any of their questions, and eventually they are forced to give up. Weeks go by and Sasuke notices that dark rings are a regular occurrence under Sakura's eyes and that she looks thinner. _

"_Do you even care?" she asks him after a mission, shaking with emotion, "Sure he was stupid sometimes, but he was still our teammate! Can you really pretend that nothing's wrong?"_

"_I'm thinking," Sasuke tells her, "I've been thinking for weeks, but nothing's coming. Nothing makes any sense."_

_Maybe Sasuke has been losing sleep as well. Maybe. _

_To his horror, Sakura bursts into tears, "Sasuke-kun," she sobs, voice muffled by her hands, "I think it's my fault! It's what I told him the day we got back! I said I never wanted to see him again and now he's gone!"_

"_Don't be stupid," Sasuke tells her and hopes she doesn't except him to comfort her, because that's definitely _not_ going to happen, "The idiot wouldn't have left just because of that. All those people wouldn't have covered it up and…"_

_But Sakura doesn't listen to his logic and just keeps crying and crying. _

_They get a new teammate after that. Sasuke vaguely remembers her from the academy, but Sakura is the one who really knows her. Her name is Ami and she and Sakura absolutely despise each other. From some of their arguments Sasuke learns that they had a history at the academy, and he has to hope he and Naruto weren't as bad as they are. _

_She also claims to be 'in love' with him, though Sasuke is pretty sure it's just to make Sakura angry. And it certainly works. It's pissing him off too, though, and he swears that if she pinches his ass one more time, he's going to break her nose, girl or no girl._

_A few months go by and then suddenly they're told that they will participate in the Chuunin Exams that are coming up. It is the first time that Sasuke will do anything that he considers worthwhile towards his goal and it excites him to think of all the strong opponents he will be able to fight. Ami is annoyed by it, considering it a pain, while Sakura is apprehensive._

_There is a slight hitch which involves him getting implanted with the mark of some crazy psychopath and then waking up to Sakura with shorter hair, Ami with a broken leg, and whole bunch of other people, but they do end up getting to the last round. Ami immediately drops out of her one-on-one match, and Sakura gets creamed by her Grass opponent. No one other than Rock Lee who injured his spine, is really hurt badly. Sasuke wins his first match, though is in the hospital on the account of the curse seal, but soon gets better and goes off to train with Kakashi. It is an awkward affair, as Sasuke has still not totally forgiven him, but it works. But then while Sasuke is fighting Hyuuga Neji in the second round-whom he was disappointed to find as the only vaguely strong fighter- war breaks out and it all goes to hell._

_Years later, Orochimaru walks in on his training with a book in hand that has a symbol on it that Sasuke recognizes as Konoha's. _

"_Sasuke-kun," he says in that voice that Sasuke hates, but will never admit it, "Were you really teammates with Uzumaki Naruto while you were still in Konoha?"_

_Sasuke lowers his kunai and frowns. He has not heard Naruto's name spoken for what seems like a lifetime, "Yes," he replies, "but he disappeared a few months after our team was formed."_

"_Interesting," Orochimaru mutters and makes a note in his book._

_Sasuke opens his mouth to demand what Orochimaru knows about Naruto, but then closes it and lifts up his kunai again. _

_He has learned that it's best not to speak to the man unless he absolutely has to. It's easier that way._

Chapter Fourteen-

"We have no time for formalities…" a well dressed older woman says. She and a man about the same age step forward. Sakura tenses at the sight of them, but Sasuke has no idea who they are. The woman looks like a daimyo, going by her hairstyle. But why would a daimyo be chosen to represent Konoha?

"Koharu-sama, Homura-sama" Sakura says, but there is contempt in her voice, "How…_pleasant_ to see you again."

"…so I'm not going to mince my words, " she continues if Sakura had never spoken, "We want you back."

Naruto starts next to him and Sasuke himself frowns. Sakura, however, does not seem particularly surprised.

"Why?" she asks calmly, "I do remember cutting down a considerable amount of your forces and murdering your Hokage…but that might just be me."

The woman narrows her eyes and opens her mouth angrily, but she is cut off by the old man in glasses, whom Sasuke assumes is Homura.

"Danzou would've faced the death penalty if his actions had been discovered," he says sternly, "In a sense, you just saved us the dirty work."

Sasuke raises an eyebrow at this and Naruto lets out a derisive snort. All eyes turn to him and Sasuke sees Kakashi tense up.

"Have something to say, _jinchuuriki_?" the woman, Koharu, says maliciously and Sasuke does not like her tone.

"Oh, nothing," Naruto says casually, rubbing at the corner of his mouth, "I just find it funny how corrupt this entire affair is."

While Sasuke agrees with him, he can't help feel that Naruto's comment isn't helping their so-called diplomatic relations. Indeed, the ten or so backup shinobi are not pleased and grab at their shuriken holders.

"Watch your tongue, boy!" the man with the glasses snarls.

"Oh, so suddenly I'm 'boy' now," Naruto says aggressively, "What happened to 'jinchuuriki?'"

"Why you littl-"

"Stop it," Sasuke says, giving Naruto a dark look.

"That does bring up an interesting point," Sakura says in an amused voice that Sasuke has learned means trouble. Dammit, first Naruto and now her? He can't deal with both of them at the same time.

"What about your treaty?" she asks coolly, "Aren't you breaking it by not attempting to kill Uzumaki Naruto on the spot?"

"At the moment, we're overlooking it," Koharu replies slyly.

"Just like my killing Danzou," Sakura mutters under her breath so that only he and Naruto can hear her, "I wonder what else you're overlooking."

"Konoha has deteriorated greatly over the last few years and to make matters worse, our reputation has suffered a severe blow as information on Danzou's activities leaked. I'll be frank with you;" Koharu says, "we need you both as a fighter and as a sign that Konoha is not a dictatorship supported by extortion and torture."

"_But that's what you are,"_ Sasuke thinks dispassionately, _"Just like old Sound."_

"That's pathetic," Sakura says scornfully, "Have you no honor at all?"

Homura laughs, "You're naïve," he says, "This has nothing to do with honor. This has to do with the survival of our nation."

The disgusted look on Sakura's face does not change and the two speakers glance at each other hopelessly.

"I take it that your answer is no, then," Koharu says slowly.

Sakura hesitates. She seems to be looking over at the group of ten back up shinobi. Sasuke recognizes Aburame Shino and Rock Lee among them, but sees no reason why this should distract her.

"I suppose if I were to return," she says lightly, "Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto would still be considered traitors…?"

The Koharu and Homura hesitate and turn back to the people behind them, whispering to each other.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asks, turning to her, but keeping one eye on the lookout.

"Testing them," she mutters.

"What are you gonna do if they say-" Naruto starts.

"No," Koharu says and there is a self-righteous ring to her voice, "We cannot meet your demands."

"Then my answer is also no," Sakura replies.

There is a chilling silence that fills the valley and Sasuke slowly moved his right hand to the hilt of his sword.

"So what now?" Naruto asks, gripping his left bicep where he keeps a hidden blade, "You gonna try and kill us?"

"As much as we would like the three of you dead," the old man says, "I'm afraid we don't have the force to do it right here and now."

Naruto smirks, and Sasuke can't help but feel flattered as well.

"Truce, then," Sakura persists, "You don't bother us and we don't bother you."

"That _would_ be breaking our treaty," Koharu says.

"It's already fucking broken," the pink haired woman says harshly.

There is a pause, and Sakura stares them down. Everyone else seems to look from one to the other, wondering who will give first.

"Fine," Homura say bitterly, "I suppose we don't have the time to waste on you anyway."

"I'm glad we can agree," Sakura replies, smiling sweetly and Koharu winces.

Homura nods at one of the shinobi on his right and the shinobi raises her hand above her head.

"Move out!" she calls.

Sakura turns immediately and starts back, which personally Sasuke doesn't think is a good idea just yet. However, it appears that the Konoha ninja are really leaving and he and Naruto follow Sakura into a clump of trees.

* * *

"Wait! Sakura-san!"

Naruto turns around sharply to see a man about his age starting towards them. There is nothing particularly special about his looks except for maybe his overlarge eyebrows. He stiffens, but suddenly Sakura-chan is beside him again and puts a steadying hand on her shoulder.

"You shouldn't be here, Lee," she says to the man softly.

While the Council members are already gone, what are probably the man's teammates are waiting for him with obvious frowns on their faces. Naruto can feel the tension mounting and glances nervously between the Sakura-chan and the guy. Who is this guy? Why's he talking to her? Is this some sort of trap-

"You're okay, then?" the mans says worriedly, coming closer and Naruto begins to relax. Okay, maybe he's not that bad…

Sakura-chan hesitates and the smiles softly. A real smile this time.

"Yeah…"

Then, without warning, he throws his arms around her and kisses her right there, in front of all of them. Naruto stares and has to cover his mouth to stifle his laughter. He doesn't even know why it's funny. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Sasuke blanch.

"_Yes, Sasuke," _he thinks in amusement, _"It's a man and a _woman_ kissing. It's actually quite common."_

Because Sasuke looks like he's going to have an aneurysm any second, Naruto takes pity on him. He grabs Sasuke's arm and drags him further into the trees.

"Man, I think I cracked a rib," Naruto laughs, leaning against a tree once they are far enough away, "I am _so_ making fun of her for this!"

"I don't see how it's particularly funny," Sasuke says, looking at him disdainfully.

Sasuke, being an insensitive bastard, probably meant that he thought girl-guy kissing was gross, but it's his comment that leads Naruto to realize that it _isn't_ really funny. Regardless of his looks, the guy back there is Sakura's fiancé, someone she could probably never be together with because of the decisions made today.

Naruto lets out a sigh and rubs his eyes tiredly.

"What's up with you?" Sasuke asks, looking over at him suspiciously.

Naruto puts on his best smile, "Nuh-thing! Don't get your panties in a twist, bastard."

Sasuke does not take the bait, but continues to look at him in obvious irritation. He doesn't like it when Naruto pretends to be happy. Naruto supposes that it's some sort of paranoid defense mechanism that makes him think that he's purposefully lying to him. It's not true. Naruto's not trying to trick anyone. He just…just likes being happy. Because even though he's been through so much shit, he's still better off than all of the other jinchuuriki. He can't just break down when they're still standing tall. The past is the past, he's learned, and there's nothing he can do about that except get over it. Two of his fingers are gone, but so what? He can still laugh and smile. He can still make dumb jokes and make perverted comments. And he can still-

"Took you long enough," Sasuke comments as Sakura-chan finally reemerges.

"Where are we going next?" Naruto asks quickly, before Sakura-chan can say anything back.

"We'd better get out of here for a while," Sasuke says, "Earth?"

Naruto makes a face, "Er…that might not be a good idea…" he says lamely.

They both turn to look at him.

"Well, I stole on of their summoning scrolls, right? So they know what I look like more than that crappy photo in the Bingo Book."

"We could go further into Lightening," Sakura-chan suggests, "They do have that famous medical library there."

"That's in the Hidden Village though," Naruto says, remembering a conversation with Yugito, "It's be really dangerous if we went there."

She shrugs her shoulders in an "I don't care" sort of gesture, which Naruto doesn't take as a good sign.

We need to get an updated version of the Bingo Book anyway," Sasuke says, "it'd be good to go where people don't know us."

"Why do we need an updated version?" Naruto asks as they make their way down winding dirt path through the forest.

"The past few years a lot of the countries have gotten and more and more effective at tracking the Akatsuki," Sasuke says without emotion, "They've kept it really quiet though, so it was only when I got the Bingo Book I have now, which is more than three years old, I found that three Akatsuki members had been killed.

"'_Three_?'" Naruto repeats in disbelief. He had never heard of anything like that, "Who?"

"Hidan, Sasori, and Kakuzu," Sakura-chan interrupts. She looks surprised at his shock, "I thought you knew."

"We assumed that Hidan was dead," Naruto frowns, "He hadn't shown up in years, but I didn't know about Sasori and Kakuzu."

"Hidan was killed four years ago by Rock nin," she states, "And Sasori and Kakuzu were killed by a bunch of Leaf nin. Kakashi, and Team Ten were among them."

"Team Ten? Were they…" Naruto wracks his brain, trying to remember that day seven and a half years ago when his class at the Academy where assigned teams, "Was that that Hinata girl?"

"No, it was Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji. They were only Chuunin too," Sakura says looking off into the distance in a way that Naruto thinks is probably nostalgic, "Tsuna-the Hokage was really mad."

"Why?"

"A few days before, Sasori and Kakuzu had killed their teacher and two others. They were well liked among shinobi and Team Ten and a bunch of others went for revenge. I was on a mission at the time," she continues, "But I saw the bodies. Five of our-Five _Leaf_ nin died bringing them down. It was a mess."

"So there's six-_five_ left then?" He asks, remembering the Akatsuki member named Zetsu with a wince.

"Don't forget they're might be replacements now," Sakura-chan warns, but Naruto ignores her cynicism. Only a few more and they-he and all the surviving jinchuuriki-will be free.

It takes them about a day to reach the outskirts of the Village Hidden in the Cloud. Sakura-chan sneaks into the village despite Naruto's protests to get a new Bingo Book and check out the library. She also mutters about having to refill something, which at the time Naruto assumes is some sort of medicine.

So he's stuck in a small and dirty hotel room with the bastard. Who's been annoying for the past week, but now is even _more _annoying. Naruto guesses it has something to do with talking about the Akatsuki and knows he probably should feel sorry, but just feels pissed off.

"You just gonna sit there?" Naruto asks, glancing over at Sasuke who has been lying on one of the beds with his hands behind his neck staring at the ceiling for a better part of an hour.

"Yes," Sasuke replies, not sparing him even the slightest glance.

Naruto immediately scowls. Life is just not fair. Of all people he has to crush on why _him_? When Naruto thinks of a girl/boyfriend, he imagines someone nice with a sense of humor. Sasuke possesses neither of these traits. All he really has going for him is his looks. And call him what you like, but Naruto's not shallow. Maybe he's just a masochist. That would explain a lot actually. He's pretty sure he only started liking Sakura-chan _after_ she made it quite clear that she liked the asshole.

Well, whatever. All Naruto knows for sure is that he really wants to sleep with Sasuke right now. He also sorta wants Sasuke to fuck him like last time even though it was kinda painful at first. At first anyway. But last time Sasuke got all stupid and moralistic on him and doesn't know if he wants to deal with that again. There were also no condoms, which sucked.

Hmmm…decisions, decisions. ..

Naruto rises from his seat and goes to sit on the foot of the bed, "Oi, fuckhead," he starts elbowing his leg, "You alive?"

"What do you want?" Sasuke asks, giving him a look that makes babies and small children cry. Naruto likes to think he's impervious to it. Instead of scaring the crap out of him, it turns him on…that's _sorta_ the same thing.

"It isn't obvious?" Naruto asks, smirking and giving him a once over, "You really should get a shirt that actually closes, you know."

"Then it'd rip every time I transformed." Sasuke says matter-of-factly, sitting up.

Without warning his hand reaches for him, fists his collar and slams him against the wall. Naruto's first instinct is to slit his throat, but this is Sasuke after all, and decides to channel his energy to something more worthwhile. Like ridding the other man of that butt ugly belt and running his hands down his hips even as he groans in pain from the impact.

"So," Naruto says conversationally, sliding his thumbs in-between the cloth of Sasuke's pants and his bare skin, "that was easy. I should have done this days ago."

"Shut up," Sasuke says gruffly, tightening his grip and Naruto knows he must be a masochist because if he wasn't there's no way he'd enjoy this so much, "We were on a stakeout, stupid. And you kept smoking."

"It's not going to kill you," Naruto protests, "You should try it. You'd look really hot."

Sasuke scoffs and uses his teeth on the zipper of his jacket. Naruto moans shamelessly and thrusts his pelvis forward.

"So you gonna fuck me or what?" Naruto groans, grappling with Sasuke's stupid shirt. It should not be this hard to take off a shirt, no matter how dumb it looks.

Sasuke pauses in removing his orange pants. Naruto senses that he's going to move away and wraps his arms around his neck and kisses him hard. He pushes against him, kneading his palm down the muscles in his back. Sasuke makes a snarling noise and slams him against the wall again, practically ripping the fly of his pants open.

"See?" Naruto says triumphantly, licking his swollen lips, "That was fun."

"You're an idiot," Sasuke says angrily, "Don't you see I shouldn't have done that!"

"No," Naruto says stubbornly, "Not at all. Now do it again before I kick your ass."

Sasuke states at him with wide eyes for a few seconds and then scowls.

"Fuck you," he says.

"Yes, that's exactly what I -mmmff!"

Naruto closes his eyes and pulls the other man closer, finally succeeding in rendering him shirtless. He digs his nails his nails into Sasuke's neck, careful not to get anywhere near the curse seal. Sasuke doesn't like being touched there, though Naruto isn't sure if it's because it physically hurts or it's just a reminder of things he really doesn't want to think about.

On whim, he twists sideways onto the mattress, taking Sasuke with him. His head his the pillow, and he smirks up at Sasuke who's looking rather dazed.

"What kind of ninja _are_ you?" he snickers, kissing Sasuke's nose, which he knows he hates. He brings up both hands and thread them through Sasuke's hair and nips at his neck.

"Aren't you supposed to be ready for anything?" he breaths into the dark-haired man's ear, enjoying how Sasuke stiffens up.

He responds by cuffing Naruto roughly in the cheek. Sasuke grasps both of his wrists in one hand and pins them up above his head.

"You were saying?" Sasuke says casually as Naruto growls and tries to break free. He tries to buckle him off, but Sasuke immobilizes him by sitting on his hip, smirking down at him. He slides his palm across his bare stomach and then lower. Naruto groans, buckling his hips futilely in want of more friction.

"Fuck, I…hate you!" he moans, as Sasuke uses his teeth to pull up his shirt. The image does wonders for him, but the way Sasuke's nails bite into his wrist is still hotter.

Naruto would be the first to admit that this is probably not healthy, but at the moment he can't bring himself to care.

At this point, Sasuke's tongue is _way _more interesting.

* * *

After seven hours, five of which were spent in the library, Sakura leaves the village stealthily. The updated Bingo Book is under her arm along with a few books and her small yellow bottle, full of newly acquired diluted acid.

She makes her way back to the hotel and reenters their room to find Naruto, only in his boxers, eating ramen with half healed (which in Naruto's cause means he just got them) looking bruises just about everywhere. Sasuke is asleep under a bunch of blankets, but Sakura can bet he's not wearing any clothes. Oh well, she sighs, at least the smell of ramen masks the smell of…other stuff.

"Hey, Sakura-chan," Naruto says, in an obscenely good mood, "You get what you needed?"

"Yes," she replies, "I'm going to take a shower now. When I get back, both of you _will_ be dressed."

"But, Sakura-chan-"

"No buts," she says sternly and reminds herself of her mother. No, don't think of that, she tells herself, just don't.

"Oh, fine," Naruto says through a mouthful of noodles, "But it's not my fault if the bastard kills you."

Sakura gives him a quick smiles and grabs a pile of fresh clothes. She locks herself in the tiny bathroom and leans over the sink.

She misses him. So. Goddamn. Much.

They probably did it on purpose, she thinks, to try and weaken her, to try and bend her to their will. It didn't work, but it's filled her with doubts and regrets. Is this vendetta worth it anymore? Is anything worth leaving behind the person she loves the most. Tsunade-sama's killer is dead, so why did she say no?

But then she thinks of Tsunade-sama and the way that she looked the last time Sakura saw her alive, and then after in the morgue.

Tsunade-sama wouldn't want this, she knows. She would want her to let go of the anger and the despair and the _hatred_. The grief. But she can't. Not yet.

_She's such a fool._

Sometimes she wishes she could leave her emotions behind, like a snake sheds its skin. But she can't so she grabs at the little yellow bottle with shaking hands.

It's easier this way.

That night when they eat dinner they hear a rumor about whole towns mysteriously disappearing up north and it reminds Sakura of the village in the Water Country that was supposedly diseased, but that Sasuke had said had been burned to ash.

Her gut feeling is that there is a connection and Sasuke doesn't disagree. He probably doesn't think that it's that important, only a diversion until it is safe for them to cross the Fire Country again and maybe he's right. But…

They find three villages all burnt to nothingness. Sasuke confirms that they are all exactly the same as the one in the Water Country with a small frown on his face.

"What is this?" Naruto asks, looking around in disgust, "There's nothing _left_! This isn't the work of bandits."

"Did they really burn _everything_?" Sasuke asks dubiously, "The heat required to reduce a human body to ash is…It seems wasteful."

"You think they were trying to cover something up?" Naruto asks, crouching down to inspect the ash, "Wait, I think I found a bone!"

Sakura spins around and takes it the small thing, inspecting it closely.

"It is human?" Sasuke asks, looking over her shoulder.

"Yes," she says, sighing, "Part of a child's finger, I should think."

Naruto stiffens up and looks down at the ground in horror.

"We should continue north, that's the way they seem to be going."

Sasuke nods and goes on ahead.

"Naruto?" Sakura asks hesitantly, as he hasn't moved, "Are you alright?"

He looks up at her in surprise.

"Oh," he says, rubbing the back of his neck as if embarrassed, "Yeah. I'm…fine."

"Alright, then," she says slowly and they leave.

They must be faster than the culprits because they catch up with them in less than a day. They find another devastated small town, except it hasn't bee burned yet. There are mutilated dead bodies everywhere and Sakura covers her nose at the stench.

"They've been dead for a few hours," Sasuke mutters.

There is a scream somewhere off in the distance and Naruto pushes in front of her and rushes ahead.

"Naruto!" she yells, hurling after him, "Don't-"

But it is too late and Naruto freezes ahead of her, eyes wide open. There is another scream. She rounds the corner to see a group of ragged looking men and women crouched around the mutilated form of a child. They look like a group of beggars, but they haven't stolen anything. The houses have hardly been touched. There is an inhuman look in their eyes as they turn to look at her and it sends shivers down her spine.

"What -?" she gasps, staring down at the dying eyes of their victim, a boy of about ten years. They've cut off both of his legs and right arm. His left eyeball is hanging out, barely connected by the nerves.

They don't speak and watch her intently and then rise, but not all the way. There is a strangeness to the way they walk and one of them kicks the child as he passes. The boy makes a whimpering sound, but he's lost too much blood; he's almost dead. They all turn and snicker at the noise and a few more poke and prod at him. Sakura draws her wakizashi, but-

_What-_

She turns her head to the side very slowly-

_-is-_

-to the right where Naruto is.

_-this?_

But it's not Naruto. At least, not anymore. His skin has turned a dark red, fangs have sprouted where teeth used to be, and claws instead of teeth. There are four fox tails as well and for a second everything seems frozen. She her mouth hangs open in shock-never did she expect something like this-and then time is back to normal and she is thrown backwards into a building by the pure _power_ emanating from him.

"NARUTO!" she screams as blood pours down the back of her head, but he doesn't listen to her and leaps towards the motley group with fangs bared. They are not afraid as she is, but run towards him, eyes full of bloodlust. The look does not even disappear when Naruto rips them apart.

He goes for the child next and that's when she knows he's fully gone. But before he can get there, a dark blur jumps in-between him and the boy.

"What the hell?" Sasuke hisses, holding off the claws with his chakra encased sword.

But Naruto's too strong and he grabs the boy and jumps out of the way before they're crushed.

He lands a few feet in front of her, "Take him," he says, handing her the boy and ripping off her cloak. He lets his shirt fall to his waist and Sakura watches as his body turns a dark grey and eerie wings sprout out of his back. He's mentioned this form once or twice, but Sakura's never actually se-

The boy chokes blood onto her lap and she strokes back his brown hair and wipes away his tears. He stares up at her with wide eyes, gasping for breath

"Shhh…" she whispers, kissing him on the forehead, "It's going to be okay, it'll be okay, it'll be okay. Sleep now, alright? Just sleep…"

She holds his small body to hers as his heart beat recedes and his skin grows cold. With tears in her eyes she watches Sasuke cuts a deep slit in Naruto's abdomen. It heals immediately and Naruto-_no-_the monster seems to grow bigger. She sees Sasuke's Sharingan whirl with the light of battle and readies herself for an explosion.

But the monster falls and then shrinks back into a blood covered Naruto. It's the last thing she sees before she keels over, the dead child's body still in her arms.

**A/N: Emo-ness, I know. I just have to much fun with it all. And Kyuubi!Naruto hasn't appeared yet in this story, so I had to add him in somehow. **

**Err…yeah, the wait…I was sorta procrastinating on another story (for a month…or two) and got sidetracked by work and…yeah…**

**Also, TPWB more than a year old now! Yay!**

**Okay, my brain is dead, and I can't think of anything else to say, so just review…Please?**


	15. Falling, Falling

_To say that Naruto and Gaara hated each other at first would be an understatement. Neither Yugito nor Tsuyu particularly liked him either in the beginning, but they quickly got over his so-called 'Konoha induced' strangeness. It was different for Gaara. It might have been because they were both around the same age. It might have been because they were younger than there counterparts or maybe because they were both male. Either way they did _not_ get along. _

"_You're pathetic," Gaara tells him. _

_He has just killed someone and he just stands there like that, as if who he just killed-no _murdered-_was a fly instead of a person._

"_Y-You-" Naruto starts but, then his stomach heaves again and he is throwing up for the second time in a minute._

_Gaara gives him a contemptuous look and turns, as if to walk away and Naruto snaps. _

"No," _Naruto thinks, _"No. You can't do that. You don't get to do that."

_And fury so intense fills him to the brim and he lunges at the other jinchuuriki. In his rage he doesn't think about jutsu he could use or strategy or anything really. And they fight. _

_It is the first time Naruto uses the Kyuubi's power, the first time he lets it build up inside him and just _take over. _He hates it. Fucking hates it. But at the moment he's too angry to care. _

_It's a harsh battle. There are no clever traps or complicated jutsu. There are just punches and kicks, clashes of brute force and demonic energies. Naruto wins, but only just. It is not because he is stronger than Gaara, but more because he cares more. Gaara's apathy might be intimidating to an opponent but it doesn't directly help in a fight. _

"_Now you listen," Naruto snarls, grabbing the collar of Gaara's shirt with his bloody fingernails and hauling him up, "Don't. Do. Things. Like. That."_

_Gaara coughs out a bit of blood, but Naruto doesn't give a shit._

"_So what?" he asks hoarsely, looking pathetic, but still managing to sound contemptuous, "I'm supposed to let them kill me?"_

"_Shut up," Naruto hisses, "Just shut up. It's not about that. Sometimes you have to kill people. I'm not stupid."_

"_Could've fooled me."_

_Naruto hits him again, but not because he's angry. Just to make him stop talking. _

"_You don't do it unless you have to," he says, "You don't. And don't treat people like that. There are lines you just _do not cross_, do you understand me?"_

"_You're a fool," Gaara whispers, "Haven't you realized it yet? We're monsters. Demons. This is what we're meant to do."_

_Naruto laughs in his face, "You don't really believe that, do you? If you were such a monster, you wouldn't bother with me or Yugito or Tsuyu, would you? Don't give me excuses," he says harshly, his voice sounding strange to his own ears, "If you're going to be a monster don't blame it on the demon. At least have to decency to own up to it yourself." _

_And then he walks away. _

_It's one of the hardest things he ever does. True, the gesture is undeniably cool, but Naruto really _does _want to makes a difference, to change his mind. A part of him doesn't believe that what he said was enough and wants to go back and reiterate his feelings. But the majority of him knows that this is an integral part of showing Gaara how disgusted he is with him. He just hopes it works._

_It does. Sort of. Gaara is definitely different from then on. He still kills, his philosophy of the only good opponent is a dead opponent untouched, but his attitude about it changes. He is less hostile to him, Tsuyu, and Yugito, but also the occasional civilian they come across. He and Gaara start a tentative friendship, which only becomes stronger over the years. By the time Naruto is fifteen he's convinced Gaara to drink with him, Tsuyu, and Yugito. Partly because he just likes to drink, but also because Gaara says things whilst drunk that he never would sober. It's funny and Naruto has always been curious about what the taciturn boy thinks. _

_One point they're lying on the floor and sofas in the main room of their hideout (or lair, as Tsuyu calls it) is particularly memorable. _

"_Shut up!" Yugito groans, throwing a pillow at him after he giggles for five minutes straight for no reason in particular._

"_Hey," he protests taking another swig of sake. The pillow doesn't hit him, but this is more of a testament to how hammered Yugito is than his elite dodging skills._

"_Don't hate me because I'm pretty."_

"_But you're not. Not a'tall," Tsuyu murmurs. _

"_Shut up."_

_Across from him Gaara rolls off the coffee table with a thump._

"_Ow," he says, voice slightly muffled against the floor._

_Tsuyu snickers._

"_Hey," Naruto says, sitting up excitedly, "We should play Truth-or-Dare!"_

"_That game's for stupid teenagers," Yugito snorts, "How old are you again?"_

"_Fifteen."_

"…_Oh."_

"_My head really hurts," Gaara mumbles from the floor._

"_What d'you miss the most?" Naruto's mouth vomits without his permission. He is staring at the ceiling. It seems so far away, even though he knows it's only a few meters above him, "You know. Things."_

"_Things," Yugito repeats, sounding like a librarian. Not that Naruto's ever met one, "How descriptive."_

"_You know what I mean," Naruto says, even though he knows she doesn't, "What did you wished you done differencingly…er, differently?"_

"_I'd 'ave ripped Orochimaru's stupid girly face off," Tsuyu says, sounding disturbingly pleased at the thought, "Show him who's boss…creepy, psychotic fucker…"_

"_I-," Yugito starts, and then hesitates for a split second, "I wouldn't've, you know, become a ninja. I think."_

"_Huh?" Naruto asks, turning his head so he's looking at her upside-down, "Why?"_

_She shrugs, but it doesn't really work out well as she's lying on a couch._

"_I dunno, I never really wanted…but I didn't have a choice, so…"_

_A pale hand appears on a edge of the coffee table and Naruto watches with amusement as Gaara pulls himself into a seated position._

"_Something with books," Yugito is muttering, "I like books."_

_She does, really. Yugito is cold and ruthless to outsiders, but Naruto has known her for three years and has seen the fire in her eyes when she brings back another pile of books to add to the makeshift library in her room. _

"_What about you?" Tsuyu asks him._

"_Well," Naruto says, "I would've beaten the shit out of Uchiha Sasuke instead of waiting for an opportune momen-"_

_He is cut off by a loud groan from all three of the other jinchuuriki._

"_I thought we agreed that you weren't allowed to mention that name anymore," Tsuyu says. _

"_We _definitely_ agreed," Gaara mutters._

"_Fine," Naruto says, enthusiasm unflagging, "You go then, if you having something better to say."_

_Sabaku no Gaara doesn't say anything for a long time. Naruto cranes his neck to see him staring off into space. _

"_Well?" Tsuyu asks impatiently._

"_Sometimes I miss…" Gaara mumbles, still spaced out, "…I would've been different."_

"_Different?" Yugito repeats skeptically, trying to raise a quizzical eyebrow and failing miserable._

"_To people," he clarifies. _

_Naruto frowns. Now that he thinks of it, does Gaara have parents? No, wait, his father was the Kazekage or something right? The one who Orochimaru killed? Naruto remembers the day Gaara found out. He hadn't cared. But did he have a mother? Siblings? Friends? Unlike him, Gaara had left the Sand willingly, but what did he leave behind? _

"_Who?" he asks curiously, but Gaara just shrugs his shoulders and will say no more. _

Chapter Fifteen-

Naruto wakes up to the unpleasant sensation akin to his head being gnawed off. He's felt this odd sensation before and he bolts upright, ignoring the head rush. He's sitting on a worn bed in a plain, unadorned room. For a second he thinks he might be in a prison, but then he sees Sasuke asleep against the wall. Sakura is sitting in a rickety chair, staring listlessly out the single dirty window in the room.

"What happened?" he blurts out, taking note of the bandage wrapped around her head, "Did I-?"

He can't say it. It hurts too much.

"How many tails?" he asks dully after almost a minute of silence.

"Four," she answers, and her voice is hoarse and sounds pained.

Naruto clenches the comforter to keep his hands from shaking.

"How many did I kill?"

She shrugs and then winces, the movement obviously causing her pain, "Twenty or so. I didn't count."

Naruto feels bile rise in his throat but he holds it back, and instead leans over, gripping the comforter as if it is the only thing that is keeping him alive. He can hear his heart pounding as if magnified ten times.

"_God," _he thinks, _"Why am I even _alive_?"_

"You don't have to feel bad, you know," Sakura tells him mildly, "If you hadn't killed them, I would've."

This, surprisingly, does _not_ make him feel any better.

"How did-" he manages to spit out, "How did you stop me?"

"Sasuke did it," she replies, glancing over at the sleeping man in question, "Something with his Sharingan. I don't know what. He mentioned something about separating you from the demon, but is must've really worn him out because he fell asleep pretty quickly."

"Oh," Naruto murmurs, "Your head…Did I-"

She shrugs, "Suffice to say, I got in the way."

He opens his mouth and then closes it. He has no idea what to say. He never wanted them to see this side of him. He thought…he thought he had it under control. And now…

"Anyway," Sakura continues, "I examined the bodies and I think they were acting under the influence of some sort of drug. I'm guessing it's experimental and all the villages we stumbled upon were trials of some sor-"

"Shut up!" Naruto says loudly, "Shut up! Don't you know what I just _did_?"

She raises an eyebrow, "Yes," she says baldly, "And I don't really care."

To his left Sasuke lets out a sleepy groan and opens his eyes, but Naruto ignores him.

"You're-" he hisses, but it cut off.

"I know what I am," Sakura says, calmly, "And while it's not really optimal, I _am _a ninja. Morals aren't part of the job description. Now that Sasuke knows how to stop you, it doesn't really matter anyway."

"How can you think like that?" Naruto gapes at her, "How can you excuse the deaths of twenty people at the hands of a monster?"

"It was, admittedly, different than I expected," she says, ignoring his question, "But as I said-"

"Different than you expected?" Naruto repeats furiously, "_Different _than what you expected! Fuck you! What did you _think_ it was going to be like? A fluffy little fox cub?"

He is on his feet now, teeth clenched, hands formed into fists.

Sakura frowns slightly, as if this new development is merely a slight irritation, "I didn't say th-"

"You're a bitch," he tells her, shaking slightly.

"Naruto…" Sasuke interrupts from the floor.

"Shut up," Naruto snarls and leaves the room before he kills them both.

He leaves the building via the backdoor, ignoring the stares of the other patrons and leans against the wall. He lights a cigarette, but almost crushes it in his anger. He inhales a deep breath of the toxins that he knows won't affect him and exhales slowly.

He should've known they wouldn't understand. _Humans_, he thinks derisively. Tsuyu was right. After all, how could they? Only jinchuuriki could know the pain and guilt that accompanied having a demon in your stomach that you couldn't control. He wishes she was here right now. Tsuyu always knows what to do. Or Gaara or Yugito. He'd even take Waka, for what it was worth.

He's on his third cigarette, when the door opens and Sasuke slides through with catlike grace that Naruto might have been jealous of if he hadn't been so pissed.

"Figures you'd be smoking," Sasuke says, raising a ridiculously perfect eyebrow.

"Screw you," Naruto mutters having no inclination to speak to him at the moment.

Sasuke doesn't say anything for a while.

"You've never killed anyone before?" he asks cooly, but not without curiosity.

"Yes," Naruto replies tersely, "What does _that_ have to do with it?"

He pauses and allows himself to glance curiously at the darkhaired man

"You?"

"Eight," Sasuke says, without any vestige of shame, "Orochimaru and seven interrogators when we were in Konoha last month."

Naruto's face heats up for reasons he doesn't understand, "Really," he says carefully, "I'd have thought…more…"

"I don't kill unless I have to," he says, "Avoid it if I can."

"_You could've in Konoha," _Naruto thinks, but doesn't say anything.

"Sakura," Sasuke says, startling Naruto into remembering that there are other people in the universe, "she doesn't understand. She's been twisted, most likely by being in the ANBU. It's not her fault. Mostly."

Naruto shrugs uneasily, "She expects me to just let go of the fact that I just killed twenty or so people. I can't do that."

"They _were_ going to die anyw-"

"Stop that!" Naruto nearly shouts, "That's not an excuse! Because they were going to die anyway makes it okay that I _killed_ them?"

"You didn't kill them," Sasuke says without emotion, "The demon did."

"It was my body!"

Sasuke lets out a quick breath that might've been a laugh, "That was not your body," he says stoically.

And then, in a lower voice, "I'd think I'd know."

Naruto scowls, "That's not funny," he mutters, turning away.

"It's true."

Naruto jerks to look at him and finds that he is very close,

"Uh…" he says, trying to distract him, "I suppose I'd better apologize to Sakura then?"

"Mmm," Sasuke says, clearly not paying attention. He reaches up with his left hand and cups Naruto's jaw carefully. The places where the pads of his fingers connect with his cheek burn in a way that isn't exactly unpleasant.

Naruto wants redemption. He has spent so much of these past few years feeling guilty and unlike his two teammates Naruto doesn't _like_ being sad. He doesn't like brooding about past mistakes, but when there is this much blood on his hands, how can he not?

But above all he craves forgiveness, so when Sasuke leans in to kiss him he doesn't push him away. Instead he wraps one arms around his shoulders and one around his waist and pulls him closer.

"Alright," Naruto murmurs in his ear when they part, some time later, "I'll apologize to Sakura."

But he never gets the chance to. Sakura is gone when they return to the room and when she bursts in half an hour later there is no time for regrets.

"There's been a revolt," she says, face pale and eyes wide, "There's been a revolt in Konoha."

* * *

It is bad. The civilian populace of Konoha had been on thin ice with the shinobi every since Tsunade-sama's 'betrayal,' but Danzou's atrocities were the final straw. Civilians outnumber ninja ten to one and to make matter worse, Konoha isn't the only place where civil unrest has become commonplace. It is happening all over the Fire Country. Already half the Council is dead and hundreds of refugees have trickled across the border into the Grass, Waterfall, and even the Rain overnight.

Sakura wants to leave right now to see what's happening, to make sure that they're all okay-_oh, God, Mom, Dad, Lee, Ino, Kakashi_-but she knows that it's too dangerous in the present climate.

Naruto looks at her pityingly and even Sasuke is less blunt than he usually is over the coarse of the next few days. She tries to busy herself by testing the properties of the drug she found in the blood stream of the people in the village (or the 'zombies' as she has taken to calling them privately,) but the image of her parents beheaded like Tsunade-sama in the morgue keeping flashing before her eyes. Her parents are not ninja and if they are persecuted because their daughter a ninja, not to mention a traitor…She doesn't like to think about it, but she can't _not_ think about it.

She wakes almost a week later, to Naruto banging on her door in the middle of the night. Has something happened? She leaps up and opens the door quickly.

"What?" she asks hoarsely, "What happened? Did something-"

"N-No," Naruto says, looking a little abashed, "It's just…I have to leave. Now."

"What?"

He looks torn, "I…see, I haven't met up with, you know, the other jinchuuriki in months and when they get worried they, you know, contact me and-"

"Contact you?" she snaps, annoyed, "How?"

Naruto wordlessly holds up the holographic card that she and Sasuke had found on Naruto's person all those months ago and had been unable to make any sense of it. It shines an eerie emerald green in the darkness.

"It's a signal," he explains, "If one of use hasn't come back to base in a while, they send it out. If I don't reply and show up in a few days, they can track me using this. We always keep it on us, just in case…" his voice falters and he looks uncomfortable, "just in case one of us gets captured. I can also use it as an emergency signal."

"You're leaving?" she asks, just to clarify.

"Tonight," Naruto replies, "It should only be a few days, though. A week at the most. I just…haven't seen them in months."

"Fine," she says, "We'll meet you in…old Sound, by the border. I believe there's a city called Ningyo. We'll probably be staying somewhere cheap, knowing Sasuke."

"Near the border," Naruto says worriedly, but the corner of his lips twitch at her comment, "Do you really think that's wise?"

"I want to know what's going on," she says, "News takes a while to travel this far. Where is this hideout of yours anyway?"

"Underground," he says without reservations, "Near the connecting point between Rock, Rain, and Waterfall. Technically in Rock, but they're bastards, so I don't like to admit that."

"Be careful," she says, "Have you told Sasuke yet?"

The guilty look on his face is enough, "Figured, I'd tell you first," he says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "You'd take it better."

"Say hello to Sabaku no Gaara from me and tell him thanks for the broken ribs," Sakura wants to say.

Instead, she laughs for the first time in days and pats him on the shoulder.

"Good luck," she says, and turns in before she can hear Naruto's goodbye to Sasuke. She just hopes he doesn't break anything. Or _they_ don't break anything.

Sasuke is not happy the next morning when they leave, but Sakura didn't really suspect him to be. It takes them two days to get out of Cloud, and on day four since Naruto's departure they reach the border of Old Sound. Sakura has heard more rumors of death and destruction in the Fire Country, but the violence seems to be winding down a bit. As far as she can tell, this isn't a result of any decisive moves by the ninja, but more because the civilians have worn themselves out and are tired of the fighting. She has heard the name "Copy Ninja Kakashi" come up several times, but in such wildly differently contexts that she has no idea what the truth is.

Sakura is sick of it all. She's sick with worry for her parents and Lee. She's so, _so_ sick of Konoha. She just wants to be done with them. She cut her ties almost three years ago, but they keep coming back to haunt her. She wants it over. But she supposes that would be too easy, wouldn't it? She feels trapped, and spends hours and hours pacing back and forth until Sasuke throws a kunai or some other sharp object at her. She doesn't eat, doesn't sleep. Suffice to say, she's a total wreck.

And just when she thinks things can't get worse, they do.

They're at the edge of the mountain range when something just feels off. Sasuke feels it first, but once Sakura realizes it's there the worry gnaws away at her. It isn't chakra, it's more subtle than that, but it's _something_.

Suddenly something in Sasuke's face tightens and he speeds ahead.

"Sasuke, what-"

"Stay there," he tells her, voice strange.

She doesn't. Something is wrong and she's not about to let him throw himself headlong into danger. It's strange, usually he's so levelheaded about everything, even when she and Naruto aren't. Unless…

Sasuke comes to a cliff and stops. Sakura can feel rage and power emanating off him and it's with trepidation that takes those last few steps forward and _sees_.

Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame stand on a large rock several meters below them, cloaks billowing in the wind.

"Hello, Sasuke," Itachi says, as if he didn't slaughter his entire family and hasn't seen him for the last twelve years.

"You," Sasuke hisses, every muscle taut, "I'm going to kill you."

Itachi's lips curve into a smile and Sasuke lunges at him, eyes red and spinning furiously. Sakura stares openmouthed behind her mask as they fight. Only a minute later they've disappeared down the mountain and into the forested valley below.

"So," Hosigaki Kisame says, looking over her contemptuously, "Who are you again?"

Sakura swallows her worries for Sasuke's life and sanity and bares her teeth, tossing aside her mask.

"The person's who's going to kill you," she snarls, bloodying the palm of her hand with a kunai, "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_"

* * *

"Shut _up_!" Sasuke shouts, but it comes out less threatening than he wants it to. Partly because his energy is nearly depleted from the fight and partly because of the rain.

"You're alive, aren't you?" Uchiha Madara says calmly, Sharingan peering eerily out of the hole in his mask, "You aren't as strong as you think you are. Itachi may have been half blind, but you underestimated him. If he had wanted you dead, you would be."

"Lies," Sasuke snarls, struggling to find the energy to kill this man who dared tell him Itachi was anything but pure evil.

"You really don't understand," the man says, sounding infuriatingly smug. Sasuke doesn't want to even look at him, but it's infinitely better than looking at the prone form of his older brother, whose sightless eyes leak rain like tears.

"It's not true," Sasuke chokes, but already he knows it is. Details of his childhood come back to him and every tiny one hurts more than the last. And finally…

"_Sorry, Sasuke, this is the last tim-"_

"Who the _fuck_ are you?" Sakura's voice comes from behind a huge pine tree, whose branches are being consumed by black fire. Sasuke has never been so glad to see anyone in his entire life.

Her strangely girlish pink shirt is covered in blood and is blackened from what looks like fire. She's limping badly.

"Sakura," he gasps, sounding pathetic, more pathetic than he probably ever has.

"I have no business with you," Madara says, "Leave."

Sakura looks over Itachi, him, and then Madara again.

"_You_ leave," she says, limping to stand between them, her back looking like a bigger and stronger wall than it really is.

Sasuke sees the Sharingan spin and yells out a warning, but not before Sakura falls to her knees.

"Know your place, scum," he says coldly.

Sakura spits out blood and throw several shuriken at him, which he dodges with ease.

Sasuke can't think. He can't _think_. Because Itachi is lying over there dead and Uchiha Madara has apparently come back from the dead to tell him that his parents were planning a coup and that Konoha-

Sakura hand swings out to grasp his shoulder and she looks straight into his eyes.

"Sasuke," she says, "Look at me."

He does, but it only last for a second because then he has to throw her out of the way to avoid the black fired Amaterasu Madara sends her way.

"Get out," he says to Madara as Sakura moans in pain on the ground.

"What?" For the first time the man seems surprised.

"I said get out!"

And for the second time he uses the power Itachi gave him, but this time willingly. Madara screams in pain and it's like music to his ears. He pulls himself to his feet.

"Get out," he says the third time.

"You're making a mis-"

Sasuke grabs his sword and feels the strange new shape his eyes have taken on revolve.

"Leave!"

Madara pauses, "Just think about what I-"

"Get out of here, you motherfucker!" Sakura hisses from the ground.

The strange black figure seems to hesitate, "I'll be waiting," Madara murmurs and then he is gone.

Sasuke sinks to the ground and empties his dinner onto it.

"Sasuke," Sakura whispers, having managed to pull herself off the ground, "Sasuke, what-"

"You're bleeding," he murmurs because she is but also because he doesn't want to think about what she's asking.

"I-" she seems momentarily startled and looks down at her bloody pink shirt, "I fought Hoshigaki Kisame. He's dead."

Sasuke lets out a great heaving cough that shakes his entire body and Sakura grasps his shoulders to steady him.

"Sasuke, what _happ-_"

"Get me out of here."

She pauses, turns to look at Itachi-_don't think about that!-_ and then they both stagger away from the scene, leaving Itachi's cooling body under the soft, gentle pattern of the rain.

**A/N: Dun dun dun! Ahem, I live! I bet you all thought I dropped off the planet, which I may well have considering how much updating I've been doing lately. Anyway, sorry about that, but I've real busy and I was gone a lot too.**

**For those of you that had no idea what just happened, that's probably because you're not up to date with the manga. Read it (or a summary) because I'm not going to go into that, but assume you already know. **

**As to why Sasuke didn't just pass out after he killed Itachi like in the manga, you have to remember that Itachi's eyesight was getting worse and worse as time went by. Sasuke is nineteen in this fic, not sixteen (or seventeen?) like he is in the manga and so Itachi's eyesight is worse, giving him a bigger advantage. **

**So, credit to Sleeping Soundly for making this all make sense and please review!**


	16. Moratorium

_It is only after a few months of taking S-class missions does Sakura come in contact with Root. It isn't supposed to exist anymore, of course, but Sakura doubts even Tsunade-sama herself is not unaware of its continued presence. _

_She had met it's "former" head, a cripple by the name of Shimura Danzou, before. Several times, in fact, while he and her shishou argued over the correct way to run the village. While Sakura tends to agree with his methods over Tsunade-sama's, she does not like him. He does not call her shishou with the proper suffix "-sama" instead preferring to call her "Tsunade-hime," which Sakura finds incredibly disrespectful. _

_Two of her teammates, now subordinates, know Danzou and greatly revere him. Since they do not know her true identity as Haruno Sakura, apprentice to the Fifth Hokage, they have no problem expressing their opinion that this "Danzou-sama" would make a much better leader. Sakura finds this disconcerting and even makes a point of telling Tsunade-sama about the dissonance in her ranks, but she merely waves it off, telling Sakura that there will always be people who disagree with her tactics. _

_Sakura gets a message from a fellow ANBU captain right as she is leaving for home after a particularly tiring mission that Danzou wants to see her. She frowns in both annoyance and apprehension, but complies, following the captain to a building with a high, spiral shaped roof. _

_The guards at the door are expecting her, something that unnerves her even more, and they let her in without even asking who she is. _

_The building looks even bigger from the inside. The roof, which is hollow, is held up by four huge pillars and Sakura cannot help craning her neck to see the ceiling. She walks down one of the four wide paths that converge in the middle where the crippled figure of Danzou is waiting for her. She bows respectfully once she reaches a close enough distance, but he ignores her, dismissing her guide with a wave of his hand. It is only when the captain disappears behind the double doors which she entered from does he speak. _

"_You've certainly caused a fuss at Headquarters, A756," he says in a gravely sort of voice, "Considering the short amount of time you've been a member of the ANBU, your track record is…impressive."_

"_Is there a problem, sir?" Sakura asks, even though she knows there is not. _

"_Hardly," he scoffs. _

_He pauses and looks at her critically for a few seconds. _

"_Take off your mask," he says abruptly and Sakura hesitates._

_Danzou appears annoyed by this, "Do you really think I don't know who you are?" he asks arrogantly, "Haruno Sakura."_

_Sakura stiffens, but then removes the tiger mask. There is no point in keeping it on now. _

"_You are certainly an interesting specimen," he says, talking like she is an animal rather than a person, "I would have not expected such potential considering the many years you have spent under the tutelage of our _esteemed _Hokage."_

_His bitterness is palpable, but Sakura holds her tongue. Instead she clenches her mask tightly. _

"_I take it you do not find Tsunade's methods to be the most…effective."_

_The complete lack of an honorific jars her and she opens her mouth to disagree, but he cuts her off._

"_No, no, don't answer that," he says abruptly, "I already know your answer. And that's hardly the point."_

"What _is _the point?" _Sakura thinks, but with a pang, she realizes she already knows. He wants to recruit her. But recruit her to do _what_?_

"_I have a mission for you," he says, "This is top secret. You will tell no one, and that includes the Fifth Hokage."_

"_Sir!" she protests, because words like these are downright treasonous, "That's-"_

"_This is a mission the Council has approved," he says, interrupting her smoothly, "And those are the requirements."_

_Sakura opens her mouth, but then shuts it, confused. She knows, of course, that the Council does have the power to keep things from the Hokage, but _why_? Has Tsunade-sama done something to anger them?_

"_We don't have much time," Danzou says, "It's an assassination, and a highly important one too."_

_Sakura nods her head curtly, but inside everything is all in a turmoil. What is going on? The Council is siding with Danzou? Why? An awful thought comes to her. Could it be that this isn't the first time they've done something without her shishou's knowledge? She knew that Tsunade-sama didn't particularly like (or respect) the Council, but this is…_

"_You are aware, of course," he continues, "of the situation with the jinchuuriki."_

"_Yes, sir."_

_It seems strange to be discussing a top secret mission in this huge room. Sakura may be paranoid, but it seems unsafe. _

"_We have received intelligence that at least one of them will most likely be in the Hidden Rock Village sometime in the next week or two."_

_She begins to feel cold. _

_Danzou pulls a thick manila folder out from his yukata. There is a picture clipped to the front and Sakura stares at it. It is a new picture that hasn't been released to the public yet. She wasn't even told that he had been sighted again. _

_It isn't at all like his old picture. He's not smiling, sticking out his tongue, or making an obscene gesture. He's older and he's not looking at the camera (is probably completely unaware of it) but instead is frowning at something just beyond the camera's range. _

_She glances up at Danzou to see if he knows-_he has to know, he must have done research on her before this-_but by the look on his face, she is wrong. He doesn't know. Uzumaki Naruto is just a monster to him. He wouldn't even think of looking to see if they had any connection._

"_No," she says softly._

_He actually looks surprised, "No?" he repeats, "This isn't a request, Haruno. You have no choice."_

"_I said no," she says, taking a step back. _

_Anger starts to show on his face, "This is an _order_," he says, sounding furious, "You will complete this mission or-"_

"_Or?" Sakura nearly laughs, "Or what? You're going to _punish _me? You can't do that without gaining unwanted attention."_

_Danzou freezes and the threat seems to echo all through the large building. _

"_You've underestimated me," Sakura says, still clenching her mask, "You should have done your research."And then she's gone before he can say another word. _

_Tsunade-sama is, strangely enough, not surprised when Sakura tells her what happened. _

"_Well, of course he wanted to recruit you," she says, rolling her eyes, "You'd be the perfect spy."_

"_But that's not the point," Sakura protests, shocked that she is just brushing this off, "Danzou and the Council are doing things behind your back!"_

_Tsunade-sama smirks and lowers her voice, "That's what _they_ think," she confides, "But I have spies, just like they do. There isn't a mission they give that I don't know about." _

_If Sakura were younger, this might have comforted her, but she is still uneasy. _

"Tsunade-sama," _she thinks, _"What are you getting yourself into?"

_But by the time she figures out what really is going on, it is too late. _

Chapter Sixteen-

She drags Sasuke out of the rain, under an overhanging cliff. He is staring off into the distance and Sakura has to shake him twice to get his attention.

"Sasuke," she whispers, though it hurts to even talk because of her injuries, "What _happened?_"

"T-They were planning a coup," Sasuke says quietly, words spilling out of him faster than she can comprehend, "And Konoha used Itachi as their spy and when they couldn't figure out how to stop them, they ordered him to kill them and he did because he hated war. But he couldn't kill me, so he left and he just _let me kill him_ and I'm going to _destroy-_"

"What? Who?"

Sasuke struggles against her, and she has to grab to make him stay still or his wounds will only get worse.

"Konoha!" he snarls, and she has _never_ seen such anger in his face before, "They ordered, they killed… It was Danzou, and the Sandaime, and Homura and Koharu. They _told_ him to and he did and I'll rip them apart, I'll-"

What? _Konoha _orchestrated the Uchiha massacre? But why-

"-why would they do that, I don't understand. Where's my sword, I'm-"

She hits him hard across the face and it stuns him momentarily.

"Sasuke," she says, taking advantage of his silence, "They're all dead."

He turns his bloody, wet face to look at her in the darkness, "What?"

"Danzou, the Sandaime, and Homura and Koharu," she whispers as gently as possible, "I killed Danzou, Orochimaru killed the Sandaime, and Homura and Koharu were killed last week, remember? The revolt."

He stares at her for a long time and Sakura presses her hand to her abdomen and begins to heal herself.

"Then I'll," he says, a determined look coming over his face, "I'll wipe Konoha off the map."

Sakura gapes at him, "What? _Why_?"

He puts his hand up against the rocks and tries to pull himself into a standing position, "Everyone from Konoha benefited from the Uchiha clan's slaughter," he snarls, eyes wild, "and they'll pay for-"

Sakura backhands him in the face and he collides with the cliff side. She hauls him up by the collar of horrifically gay clothing, seething.

"Don't you dare," she hisses, "Don't give me that bullshit! You go near them-you just _try_-and I'll fucking kill you!"

"I wouldn't expect _you _to understand," he replies dismissively, but Sakura is not hurt. He is angry and sad and confused, and only means to push her out of his path of self-destruction.

She hits him again and he snarls and knees her in the stomach, causing her to double over in pain. Anger takes over and she throws herself at him, bowling them both over and they grapple until she finally pins him to the wall again.

"Now you listen to me, Sasuke," she says, spitting out a mixture of rainwater and blood, "You're not going to attack Konoha. You're not going to do anything. You're going to sit here and let me heal you. And do you know why? Because. It. Is. Over."

"It's not over!" Sasuke shouts, but his voice breaks pathetically, his soaked body making him look more like a drowned rat than a feared S-Class nin, "It can't be over!"

"Why not?" Sakura challenges, refusing to relent even though the pain in her abdomen is excruciating, "Because you'd know!" She laughs without mirth, "This is it, Sasuke. This is what revenge feels like!"

"And how would you kn-" he starts, eyes flashing, desperate to hold onto the anger that has no doubt been sustaining him for the better part of twelve years.

"I," she says, cutting him off, "_beheaded_ the man who killed my shishou less than a month ago. And while I can't know what it is like to lose my entire family, I sure as _hell _know what revenge is."

"_I tried to tell you," _the small part of her that isn't too caught up in anger thinks, _"But you didn't listen. You didn't want to hear." _

Sasuke chokes, spits out blood onto the damp cavern floor, shaking like a leaf.

"That's not," he whispers frantically, "It can't be-That's _not_-"

"It is," she says, letting him go and taking two steps back, "It's over."

"They should _pay _for it," he hisses, eyes flickering between red and black. "Someone should _pay_ for it!"

"They're innocent!" Sakura retorts sharply clenching her fists tightly at her sides, shaking with pain and frustration. "And even if what you were told is true, someone did pay for it! Your brother may have been their tool, but he still did it! He still slaughtered your parents, your aunts and uncles, your cousins, _childre_-"

"Shut up!" he shouts, eyes scrunched shut, "Don't pretend like you know what you're talking about!"

"No," she says, past the point where she cares about being sensitive and understanding, "You're the one who doesn't know what you're talking about. You think this changes anything? It doesn't. They're still dead. Just because other people were involved doesn't make them any less dead or _him_ any less guilty for killing them. I don't care what was going to happen. He _murdered _his parents! He _killed _them, Sasuke! They're dead and they're not the only ones! Children, Sasuke, how many children did he kill?"

"Stop," he whispers.

"How many cousins younger than you did you have?" she demands, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at her, "I read the report, Sasuke! I read the testimonies of the cleanup crew, I saw pictures of the bodies, I _know_."

"You can't know!" he snarls furiously, "You weren't there-you didn't see-"

"I don't have to!" Sakura says harshly. "If you had to make a choice between a bunch of strangers and your family, the people you loved the most, who would you choose? Who would you choose?"

"Stop it!" he says again and liquid falls from one of his eyes, but it is not water. It's blood.

She gives a hoarse laugh that soon turns into a painful cough, that wracks her body. When she recovers, she spits on the ground and wipes her mouth indelicately.

"No one does that," she says plainly, "We both know that. Nothing has changed. He's still the same person, and orders or not, he deserved worse than he got."

"You didn't se-"

"I didn't," she agrees, so, so tired all of the sudden, "But I'm not the one who's blind. You can't distance yourself from this. You've probably tried, but you can't. But I can. And that's why I can see the truth."

He closes his eyes again, hands grappling against the rock.

"It's over, Sasuke," she says gratingly, "Don't delude yourself into thinking your brother was anything that he wasn't. It's. Over."

He gasps, exhaustion probably finally hitting him, and he slides down the rocky wall. Sakura comes to kneel beside him, pulling open his shirt to check for injuries. His left eye is bruised in a strange way that Sakura can only imagine came from someone _ripping it out. _It shouldn't be possible for him to see out of that eye at all, but Sasuke has long tested the limits of possibility. She bandages it and begins healing both of their torso wounds. Healing two people at one time is hardly a walk in the park, but Sakura has been in worse situations. She summons what is left of her chakra and goes to work, willing the job to take over so she won't have to think anymore.

Neither of them say anything for the rest of the night.

When Sakura wakes it is morning. The rain has stopped, but heavy clouds remain; it is unusually cold for a spring morning. Despite the chill, Sakura is grateful. She doesn't think she could stand it if it was bright and cheery outside just like-

-_that morning, all those years ago, when she woke up in the hospital and they told her tha-_

-some stupid cliché. Sasuke is still asleep, curled against the cave wall in a sort of fetal position, and Sakura quietly creeps outside, pulling her cloak around her reflexively as she goes.

It is only a short walk to the clearing, but Sakura finds herself there sooner than she expected, sooner than she wanted. She didn't think she would be prepared enough, but when she gets there she doesn't know why she even bothered. He looks pathetic, lying there cold and dead, on the damp ground. Hardly like the feared S-Class nin that he is. Was. He didn't even get a chance to close his eyes all the way and Sakura leans down to look at them. They are black, not red, but they still send shivers down her spine. She resists the urge to rip them out.

She does not know whether what Sasuke was told is true or not. It doesn't seem to make much sense, but hindsight is always 20/20. It was probably less clear at the time. Even though she has been a traitor for three years, she does not like to think that the country of her childhood could do such a thing. But if the Uchiha were planning a coup…She shivers as she thinks of all those Sharingan eyes.

It's probably true.

Sakura knows a lot more about Uchiha Itachi than most people. She spent a lot of time researching him during the months following Sasuke's departure. She learned the most horrific things about his past, awful things besides the Uchiha Massacre. He was a young prodigy born during a time period of war and strife and his country used him accordingly.

She does not hate him, not like she did when she was a child, but she cannot like him or even respect him, either. Growing up like that…something was probably broken. Something that could never be fixed. Because no one could ever be completely sane and do the things he did, much less a child.

Part of her would like to leave him rotting outside in the cold, but it's just not practical. Their whereabouts could be become common knowledge if she just left him there for anyone to find. And though Konoha is going through a series of rebellions at the moment, it can't hurt to be too careful. But mostly, she does not want Sasuke to see him again.

She takes a shovel from a nearby farming village and digs a shallow grave, right on the spot where he died. Sakura pushes his body into the earth with her foot and sticks the shovel upright into the loose earth next to the hole.

"Goodbye, Uchiha Itachi," she says to his corpse, "See you in hell."

And she buries him.

* * *

Sasuke cannot think.

* * *

Naruto always feels apprehensive when he returns home, but now he feels especially worried. He knows it isn't an emergency-there's a different signal for that-but he doesn't know how he's going to explain about Sasuke and Sakura-chan. He doesn't know how he's going to explain the two missing fingers on his left hand.

His fellow jinchuuriki all, to a certain extent, despise normal people, though Tsuyu is the most vehement of them all to the point where she denies her own humanity. And ever since the treaty the Five Great Shinobi Countries made, the jinchuuriki have generally been less than cordial towards them as well. If they find out about the circumstances of his injury, they're going to want revenge and though Naruto is the strongest of them, he doesn't think he can stop them all.

It takes him four days to get from Lightning to Earth and it's weird traveling alone. The loneliness is something he's used to, but it doesn't make it any less better. It isn't half a day before he starts missing Sasuke and Sakura-chan and he feels stupid for needing to rely on them so much.

It also annoys him how much he thinks about Sasuke while he's traveling. Sure, he likes Sasuke, he thinks he's hot, he likes the sex, but if he were to, for example, actually develop _feelings _for him, he'd have to throw himself off a cliff in shame.

He's forced to cut across a northern part of the Fire Country, which is more nerve-wracking than he'd like to admit, but at least it's only for two hours. He makes a quick stop in a small tourist town in southern Waterfall and buys a couple packages of azuki bean paste that makes the shop clerk give him an odd look, and then he is on his way.

It is about three in the afternoon when he finally reaches the dense redwood forest, which has been home to the jinchuuriki hideout for about three and a half years. It is a really cool place for a hideout, but it's also practical as well. The forest spans the borders of the three surrounding countries, making it hard for ninja to know when exactly they are crossing into each other's territory. Of course, there have been attempts to mark the border, but these endeavors have always gone _mysteriously _awry. For the past three and a half years anyway. On the Earth side there's a mountain range just beyond the forest separating it from the rest of the country, and the Waterfall and Grass Countries don't have a lot of shinobi anyway. The fact that none of these countries really get along also helps.

Naruto used to get really lost in the forest, but by now he knows where he's going. Usually anyway. After a brief…er…wrong turn, he finds the large rock pinnacle that signals he's getting close. He clambers over it and surveys the area carefully for five minutes before leaping down to the ground. He approaches the giant tree, at least four times the size of it's companions, and digs through his bag for the card that took Yugito six months to develop.

He pushes apart a thick growth of vines and presses the card to the complicated symbol carved onto the huge tree's bark. He stands back and there is a puff of smoke. When it clears, there is a dark open space in the tree. Naruto pushes back the vines and enters, hearing the entry close behind him. For a while there is total darkness and Naruto gropes for the switch that he knows it there. He finds it and the room is illuminated by a series of weak oil lamps. Naruto removes his jacket and moves forward where a stairway leads down into the earth. Two flights down and it levels off, and Naruto switches off the lights and opens the door.

There is no electricity in their hideout because it would attract attention, but they do just fine with oil lamps and natural light. Naruto walks past main room and into the kitchen where Gaara and Yugito are. They seem to be looking over a Bingo Book and discussing it in strangely animated tones.

"Naruto," Gaara says, looking up when he enters, "You're back. What took you so long?"

"I was all the way in the Lightening Country when I got the message," Naruto says casually, sticking his left hand in his pocket and sliding in a chair at the table, "What's going on?"

"We just got a copy of the new Bingo Book," Yugito explains, "Did you know that four Akatsuki have been killed?"

"Oh yeah, I knew about that," Naruto says, glad it isn't something more serious. They give him shocked looks and he amends his statement, "I mean, I just found out too. Hidan, Sasori, Kakuzu, and Zetsu, right?"

"Zetsu?" Yugito questions, stiffening up.

"Yeah, you know the creepy plant guy? You told me about him a couple of years ago. He was spying on you over in Rai…" he trails off as he realizes the implications of her question, "You mean to say another Akatsuki member is dead?"

"Deidara," Gaara replies, looking at him carefully, "He was sent to destabilize Konoha more after the revolts- you heard about those right?" Naruto nods, "He was killed by Copy Ninja Kakashi two weeks ago."

"Kakashi?" Naruto gapes, "I had no ide-wait, is that in the Bingo Book?"

Gaara shakes his head, "No, but the other three are. You know him, then?" he asks carefully, glancing at Yugito.

"He was my teacher when I was still…" Kakashi-sensei? Naruto knew he was strong, but he didn't know he was _that _strong.

"You said Zetsu was dead? How did you hear that?" Yugito asks.

"Yeah," Naruto says uncomfortably, the remaining fingers on his left hand clenching the fabric of his pocket, "I sorta…killed him."

Yugito raises her eyebrows and Gaara looks impressed, but before they have a chance to say anything they are interrupted.

"Nice one, Uzumaki," Tsuyu says, entering the room and ruffles his hair. Naruto scowls and ducks, though more because he doesn't really want to be congratulated on killing someone than because he dislikes being patronized.

"So that means," Yugito says, comprehension dawning on her face, "that only Itachi, Kisame, Tobi, Pein, and Konan are left."

"Pein?" Naruto asks, confused, "Who's that?"

"Their leader," Tsuyu answers, "He's the guy with the piercings who nearly killed me two years ago."

"Weird name," Naruto observes, but they're all too busy discussing the recent developments to hear him.

After a while, with nothing further to contribute, Naruto gets up citing fatigue from travel and leaves the room. He walks down the hallway and goes to his room which is lit by natural light that seeps in from up above without attracting attention. He's not exactly sure how it works because it was Yugito's idea and Gaara was the one who implemented it. Naruto throws his bag on a chair and lets himself fall onto the orange bedspread on his bed. There is an angry hiss and he jerks his leg up.

His fat orange cat glares balefully up at him with it's ugly green eyes.

"Sorry, baby," Naruto says, scratching his pointed ears apologetically, "You kind of blend in with the bed. You miss me?"

His cat yawns loudly and jumps off the bed, leaving his room with his tail high in the air.

Naruto rolls his eyes and lies back down. But he finds that he doesn't really feel all that tired and stares at the ceiling instead of closing his eyes.

It's not that he doesn't like his fellow jinchuuriki. He cares about them a lot. It's just that the evil demon in his stomach aside, he doesn't have all that much in common with them. Not that he particularly has much in common with Sasuke and Sakura-chan, but he seems to get on with them better. Maybe he only feels like this because he's keeping secrets from them.

He'll tell them eventually, he tells himself, once he comes up with a believable story, or if enough time has past so they won't be hankering for revenge. But for now…he'll only be here for a few days and he'll henge if he has to to keep them from finding out.

After about half an hour of failing to fall asleep, Naruto decides to go visit to Waka. He gets up and grabs the packages of sweet bean paste. He exits his room and walks toward the door at the end of the long hallway.

He knocks on the door carefully, "Hey, Waka, it's me, Naruto. I'm going to come in, okay?"

He opens the door slowly and enters the room. There is nothing in Waka's room but a bed and a collection of stuffed animals that Tsuyu keeps adding to, even though Waka should have outgrown them years ago.

Waka is small for his age, most likely the result of all the abuse he suffered in his earlier life. He has strange yellowish eyes and short black hair, and he refuses to wear anything else but the green shirt with his number on it Tsuyu made him. He's sitting on the floor, reading a book about…proper maintenance for weapons? Naruto rolls his eyes and sits on the side of the bed. A book about weapons. It was probably Yugito's idea of a gift. Go figure.

"Hey, kid," Naruto says, as Waka smiles up at him, "I got you some azuki. I know how you like it so much, even more than ramen."

He opens the package and tosses it down to Waka who catches it and digs out a handful of the reddish brown sweet greedily.

Even though he is nearly thirteen, Waka does not act like it. Naruto remembers that age, being hyper all the time and making dirty jokes nonstop. Waka is nothing like that. It's like he is frozen permanently in time. After reading a bunch of books on psychology, Yugito came to the conclusion that he would probably stay like that. Mute, immature, and overly cautious. It's awful and sad, especially as his body begins to grow up in ways that his mind will never catch up to, but there's nothing they can really do about it. The damage is permanent.

While Waka eats, Naruto picks up the forgotten book and closes it, placing it on the far end of the bed. When he turns back to him, he find Waka frozen in mid-bite, bean paste all over his mouth.

"Er…" Naruto says, gesturing, "You've got something…"

But then he realizes that Waka is not staring into space as he often does, but is staring at his hand. His left hand, which he carelessly used to pick up the book. Waka makes a horrified noise (though lower than it would have been months ago) and raises his yellow eyes up to stare at him.

"Oh, fuck," Naruto swears and hides his hand behind his back, "Look, Waka, I…uh…got in an accident, but it's okay, really. It doesn't hurt or anything, so…"

Tears trickles down Waka's cheeks.

"No, no, don't cry," Naruto says frantically, patting him on the shoulder, and checking the door just in case, "It doesn't hurt at all. Look," He holds out his hand for Waka to inspect, figuring that the damage is already done. "See, it looks scary, I guess, but there's no pain, right?"

The boy warily takes his hands and runs his fingers over the stumps where Naruto's pinky and ring finger used to be.

"It's okay," Naruto tells him gently, "I promise."

Waka scrubs his eyes nods after a while, but does not stop looking at his hand for a long while.

He eventually pulls on his pant leg, a sign that he wants Naruto to tell him a story and so Naruto does. He tells a story about a kickass princess who ran away from home to find herself, a disillusioned warrior, fighting for his family's honor, and a lonely demon who just wanted to make friends. They join up, go one tons of adventures together, beat the bad guys and save the day. Waka falls asleep by the time he's finished and Naruto gently picks him up off the floor and tucks him under the covers.

And Naruto thinks, if it could just stay like this, all peaceful and calm, things would be perfect.

But, of course, that is too much to ask.

**A/N: Argh, I do not like this chapter. I wanted the scene with Sakura shutting down Sasuke's moronic plan to destroy Konoha to go differently, but it just **_**would not work**_**. Also, I felt that Naruto's POV was boring and I wanted to add in more about the other jinchuuriki, but I just didn't have the patience. So sorry if this chapter sucks.**

**Anyway, the two year anniversary of TPWB was in November (God, time flies)…which was…three months ago. Wow. I really need to work on the whole updating on time thing (Not going to happen, though, sorry! ^_^;) **

**If you have any comments or questions about this chapter, please review!**


	17. Three Kinds of Cowards

_ Most people do not remember their first steps, but Sasuke does. It is not because he has a particularly amazing memory, but instead because he was nearly three years old when he first took them. _

_ His parents and the doctor they took him to see never figured out why he took nearly three times as long as other children to learn how to walk, and to this day Sasuke doesn't know himself. It doesn't really matter though. What matters is that it happened and that he remembers it and will _always_ remember it. _

_ The important parts, the parts he remembers with such crystal clarity that it hurts, are the disappointment on his father's face, the worries on his mother's, and complete lack of interest on his brother's. But the memory of that _helplessness-_the memory of watching the world go by with such _ease, _the memory of trying to push himself off the floor using a door frame as leverage and failing stands out beyond all others. It is the kind of helplessness that will stay with him forever, that haunted him as a child and only continued to haunt him as he grew up with the memory of his parents' blood soaking the floor. _

_ It is this memory, almost more than the desire for revenge, that drives him to be better, to be faster, stronger, smarter than all his peers- no, not just them. Everyone. _

_ It's why he can be so cruel. Why he abandons his home country, his friends, his teachers. Why he taunts and mocks his opponents. Why he kills._

_(when he has to)_

_ Because he decided long ago, unconsciously and then consciously, that he would rather be the tormentor than the victim. Would rather commit murder and have the blood on his hands than be at the mercy of another. Because he has been there before, on his knees in front of his parents' bodies, on the ground with Kakashi's foot on his head, in Orochimaru's bed for his sick pleasure. _

_ He's done with that now. He won't ever go there again. He still has the last shreds of his dignity. _

_(and if he goes down that road he isn't sure he'll be able to go back again.)_

_ Uzumaki Naruto is merely a distraction. He has known that from the beginning, but every once and a while he has to remind himself that he cannot let this go on forever. He cannot let him get too close, to him or to Sakura, because he has a mission to accomplish and he knows that they'll only get in the way. He'll have to leave them-again-eventually, but for now he'll use them to his own advantage._

_ But months go by, and he still does not leave, despite having no real reason to stay. They have neither had any contact with Akatsuki nor any new information about their movements. All traveling with Naruto and Sakura has seemed to accomplish is severely pissing off their old country. _

_(this feeling is not exactly unrequited) _

_But for all his drive, in the end, Sasuke is not sure that how to carry on in life after Itachi._

Chapter Seventeen-

Strangely enough, it is breathing that is the most difficult. His chest is cold, stone cold, and every breath is a struggle against the crushing sensation in his chest. Moving is out of the question. He doesn't know how long it's been but he thinks it's been a few days. Every once and a while Sakura will come and try to get him to eat, drink, or even talk to her, but Sasuke can't concentrate on her.

He is full of so many different emotions-grief, anger, sadness, hate-if only she would give him enough space and time to sort them all out, everything would be…would be…would…

No. Everything cannot be okay. It cannot be okay because his parents are dead, murdered by their home village that had segregated them from the rest of society, that had used his unbalanced older brother as their pawn. And to make matters worse, the ones who did it, the ones who planned it all out, the ones who had feared his family so much are all dead. They died before he could administer justice, administer his revenge, and now he doesn't know what to do.

_"It's over," _Sakura had said and she was right.

It _is_ over. There is no one left but him who was involved. Except maybe the man who called himself Uchiha Madara, but Sasuke doesn't really think of him.

They are all dead. Every single one. It is over. It is so over it hurts.

To be honest, he thought he would be dead by the time it was over. He wouldn't have minded, really. Before Orochimaru, he thought that he would start a family, restart the Uchiha clan, a strangely frank thought for a child. But later he realized that it was an arrogant, infantile delusion, the product of a pathetic kid who thought he could bring his parents back. But he is older and wiser now and he knows that there is no going back. He is a homosexual and has spent too many years with Orochimaru to think that he could ever touch someone he didn't have a genuine attraction to.

He wants to do something, _anything_, anything that would make him feel better. Something that would make him feel important and still in control of his own destiny. But short of destroying Konoha, there's nothing he _can _do.

The notion does appeal to him. He hates his home country, hates how hypocritical they've become, or rather, always have been. He just didn't notice until now. He hates them for what they did to his family, what they did to Itachi, and as much as he doesn't want to admit it, that's not all he hates them for.

But Konoha is not just some evil faceless organization that he could have no qualms in destroying. They are also a village full of civilians who are just trying to get along. Konoha also has ninja like Rock Lee, who doesn't have an immoral bone in his body and is a far better man than Sasuke himself. He is not foolish enough to believe that he can decide the fate of an entire village of people simply because three unscrupulous council members and one cowardly Hokage thought it was in the village's best interest to murder an entire clan.

As much as he despises the Fire Country and all they stand for, Sakura is right. The people of Konoha are innocent of the murder of his family. There probably isn't even anyone else left alive there who knows the truth of what really happened that night more than twelve years ago.

He knows this, he knows it so well by now, but the _rage_ inside him is almost overwhelming, paralyzes him with a kind of helplessness that he can't shake.

"I can't do this," Sakura says, a lifetime afterwards, "I just can't. I'm going to get Naruto."

Sasuke barely hears her, but just stares unseeingly at the moss covered cave wall with his good eye.

"I can't deal with this all by myself," she says, throwing stuff into her bag. If Sasuke was paying any attention at all, he would have noticed the desperation in her voice.

"You have to stay here. I'll leave you some food-please, _please, _eat something- and I'll be back soon, okay?"

Sasuke lets his uncovered eye shut and his head lull. He wishes she would stop talking. It's making his head hurt.

Her hands touch his face tentatively and he stiffens.

"Don't," he says hoarsely, voice rough.

_"Just stop,"_ he thinks, _"Just leave me alone."_

Her hands leave his face, "I'll be back," she says and then Sasuke is alone.

He is glad she's gone, because he needs solitude. He needs quiet and peace and time.

Because out of all the horrible things that have been made known to him, the worst thing of all is the realization that some part of him never wanted it to be over.

* * *

"I have to talk to you," Naruto says the next morning right after he's taken a shower.

He's managed to corner Tsuyu in the small room where they store various weapons before she can go train with Yugito for the day. He doesn't really want anyone else to overhear this. It's going to be the hardest to convince Tsuyu, but when it's over with the others will be a piece of cake.

She raises her eyebrows, looking up from a rusted kunai she is in vain trying to polish and Naruto continues, "I need to try again."

"Try what aga-" she starts, but then stops in mid-sentence.

She looks him over carefully and Naruto pushes his left hand further into his pocket.

"We've gone over this," she says tiredly, standing up straighter, "You're not ready."

Naruto slams his fist against the wall, a reaction to an emotion he wasn't aware he was feeling.

"You've been saying that ever since I was thirteen," he hisses, ready for a fight if necessary, "I'm nearly _twenty_, Tsuyu! It's been seven years and it's getting worse! I haven't gotten any better at controlling it and just a few weeks ago I-I killed-" He pauses, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath and then another, "It's getting worse," he repeats, "I know you don't care how much damage I inflict, but I can't do this anymore. I can't even trust myself around…other people."

"It doesn't matter how you feel," she says in that tight, closed voice that means Naruto's somehow offended her, "I wish I could help you, I really do, but it doesn't change the fact that it's not going to work. You're not ready."

"And how the fuck do you know that?" he says, honestly offended and surprised at her complete lack of faith in him, "It's been nearly three years since the last time I tried and-"

"You're not ready!" she snaps, pushing past him towards the exit, "Now stop asking me about it!"

"What the hell?" Naruto yelps, turning around and following her out the door, down the hall, "This conversation isn't over yet!"

"It's over, Naruto!" she shouts, not even bothering to look back at him, "Just stop being such a over-persistent _idiot_ for once in your life…"

Naruto charges down the hallway and into the already occupied kitchen, grabbing her shoulder and spinning her around.

"Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?" he asks her loudly, ignoring Yugito's shocked look, "If you don't want to help me, just say so and I'll find someone else. You're being ridiculous, I'm not going to freak out like I did three years ago, so-"

"Yes, you are!" she cuts him off, her eyes angry slits, "You always have. It _has_ been seven years Naruto and you _always _freak out. You're still so _naïve_," she says, splitting the word out like a curse, "You, with your high-standards and immobile moral compass, you'll never change. And if you never change, you'll never be able to control the Kyuubi. You have to let go of all that repressed anger and-"

"Hatred? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that part already," Naruto says, waving a hand dismissively at her, "You've told me that tons of times. The point is, I'm fine. See, look at me." He gestures to himself with both hands, "I'm completely hate-free!"

"You're a liar, Naruto," Tsuyu says, a strangely soft expression beginning to form on her face, "And you know it. You pretend to be all carefree and happy, but you're not fooling anyone. You're still so angry, and until you let go of that, you'll never be able to control the Kyuubi."

"What?" Naruto gapes at her, completely shocked at this sudden turn of events, "What are you even _talking _about?"

She reaches forward, lightening fast, and jerks him forward by the collar of his orange shirt, causing him to flinch.

"Don't. Lie." she hisses, so close that he can smell the miso soup on her breath, "You're different than the rest of us-no, don't even deny it. The rest of us all suffered the taunts, the beatings, the-the _experiments_, the torture. You had that nice Konoha life-"

"What the _fuck_ is that supposed to mean?" Naruto snarls, anger coursing through his vein making his hands twitch with the urge to wrap them around Tsuyu's throat, "I didn't have the most fun childhood either!"

"Oh, poor _baby_," she coos, sarcasm dripping off of her words like poison, "Did they _ignore_ you?"

"Shut up," Naruto says hoarsely, shoulders shaking, "Don't you _dare_-Shut up!"

"You had that cushy life," she continues, voice hard and unrelenting, "You had friends, people who _actually_ cared about your wellbeing and they _betrayed_ you!"

"That's not what happened!" Naruto says vehemently, probably more vehemently than he should have.

"Don't be naïve," she scoffs, turning her head the side slightly, "You know that's what happened, you've always known it, and that's why you can't let it go."

"Wha-" Naruto starts, utterly floored.

She turns her head back to look at him, blue eyes piercing, "The truth is you're the most bitter of us all, and until you get over it and stop living in the past, I can't help you."

She walks away then, out of the kitchen and down the hallway and Naruto stares at her back, unable to make a comeback or even say anything at all.

"There's miso soup in the pot," Yugito says quietly, startling him. He had forgotten she was even there.

She looks at him carefully and gets out of her chair. She puts her empty bowl by the sink and turns back toward him, an expression akin to pity on her face.

"She's right, you know," Yugito says softly.

Naruto swallows.

"You have to know that," she ventures, looking uncharacteristically cautious.

Naruto opens his mouth and then closes it, not knowing what to say.

She leaves as well then, leaving Naruto frozen in the middle of the kitchen, his heart pounding chaotically in his chest.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have time to process Yugito's words or even get breakfast because then Gaara is shouting something about an intruder and he has to go run and get his weapons.

"What's going on?" he asks breathlessly after climbing all the way to the top of the tree to the crow's nest.

"I saw someone running through the trees over there," Gaara says pointing northeast-ish, "Definitely a ninja."

"Just one?" Tsuyu asks, and Gaara nods in confirmation, "Any definitive markings?"

"They were pretty far away and wearing a cloak," Gaara replies, eyes narrowing as he continues to survey the area, "I'm guessing ANBU of some sort."

"Shit," Tsuyu mutters, "That means there are probably more of them."

"I'll check," Gaara says and closes his eyes, _"Daisan no Me!"_

Sand trickles out from the gourd on his back to form an eyeball floating in midair. Naruto winces. He always thought that this particular jutsu was creepy, but he's certainly not going to complain now.

With a twitch of his finger, Gaara sends his third eye whizzing off towards the northeast area of the forest and Naruto leans forward on the stone railing to see where it's gone.

It disappears from his sight after a few seconds and they all turn to Gaara.

"Nothing yet," he mutters, eyes closed in concentration, "Wait, I think I see him. He's-"

He pauses in mid-sentence.

"What?" Tsuyu says impatiently, wringing her hands, "Who is it?"

"It's that Konoha woman from a few months ago," he says, gritting his teeth and looking annoyed.

"What?" Yugito says, shocked, "I thought you said you killed her. I _told_ you to check!"

"Who?" Naruto questions, "What happened?"

"We ran into her while we were in the Water Country," Gaara says, mouth curling in irritation, "We fought, and she threw herself off a cliff to get away, but not before I mortally wounded her."

"Well, obviously you didn't," Yugito says with thinly veiled anger, "Why the fuck is she here? Are you sure there's not more than one?"

"No, it's just her," Gaara says coolly, "I'll go and take care of he-"

"Woah, woah, woah," Naruto says, putting a hand out to stop him, "If she's the only one, it could be just a coincidence."

"She's heading right towards us," Gaara says and Tsuyu gives him an annoyed look.

Naruto grits his teeth and resists the urge to snap at her.

"Well, she still could just be lost or something," he says hopefully, "I mean, it is a big forest. We're well hidden. Even if she is looking for us, it isn't very likely that she'll actually find us."

"So you'd just let her go?" Tsuyu asks scathingly, "Is that your solution for everything? Just pretending it doesn't exist?"

"It's better than just indiscriminatingly killing people," Naruto shoots back.

Tsuyu is so full of shit, he thinks furiously. There's no way that he has bottled up rage inside him and she doesn't.

"You'd better decide fast, 'cause she's coming right at us," Gaara says emotionlessly, but his eyes dart back and forth between them.

"I think I see her," Yugito says, and Naruto tears his eyes away from Tsuyu and they all look down to where a small cloaked figure is jumping in and out of sight far below.

"Just you try and come here," Yugito snarls, her canines beginning to lengthen and he eyes starting to change color, "This time I'll definitely kill that pink-haired bitch."

"Wait," Naruto says, turning to look at her, "_What?_"

* * *

Sakura has no idea where she's going; all she knows is that she has to get there quickly. Every minute she stops to rest is a minute Sasuke could be deciding to do something irreversible. She has to get to Naruto as fast as possible because he can fix this. She isn't sure why she believes so strongly that he even _can_, but he's her only hope; she doesn't have a choice.

She's been running for almost forty-eights hours straight now, only breaking to eat and drink. Her chakra is running dangerously low and her vision is starting to get blurry, but she has no choice but to continue.

She's reached the geographic area that Naruto described, but the forest is huge and she's completely lost. She had absolutely no plan when she decided to do this and as a result she's been wandering around since dawn and only finds something when it's nearly noon.

She hears a screech and looks up. A large brilliant red phoenix circles over her head and comes down to land on a low hanging branch of a tree in front of her.

"Anything?" she asks her summoned animal hoarsely.

"Nothing," Yoku replies and draws one sleek wing over her beak, "No structures of any kind or signs of human life at all."

Sakura lets out an exaggerated groan and leans her forehead against the trunk of a sapling, relishing the feeling of its smooth still-green bark against her brow.

Yoku had always been her best reconnaissance bird, ever since she first signed the contract with the Vermillion Bird. Tsunade-sama had wanted her to sign a contract with her Slug, but Sakura had wanted a more offensive animal.

"You're a mess," Yoku says flying over to perch on a branch right above her head, "Why don't you rest awhile or at least summon Chou to carry you. He's certainly big enough."

Sakura lets out a coughing laugh, "Chou hasn't talked to me since I left Konoha," she says, her voice slightly muffled by her mouth's proximity to the sapling, "I would summon Yanagi, but I summoned her just a few days ago for a huge battle and she's probably still recovering. Besides, I don't have enough chakra left."

She pushes herself back into a standing position and wobbles forward into a clearing, Yoku trailing behind her worriedly. Sakura's circumventing a large porous rock pinnacle in the center when she hears a yell.

She whips around, right hand finding the handle of her wakizashi, but there's no one but Yoku on her left, right, or behind her.

Wait a second…

She looks up and sees a blur of orange speeding towards the ground.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yells hitting the ground with a loud thump, "What the hell are you _doing_ here?"

"We've got probl-" she starts exhaustedly, taking off her mask, but then two women land several meters behind him.

She recognizes Nii Yugito from their encounter several mouths ago, but the other jinchuuriki's name escapes her. She's pretty sure she's the Nanabi, but for the life of her, she can't remember her name.

"You _know_ her?" Nii asks, sounding scandalized.

"Naruto, what's going on?" the Nanabi asks, looking over her scarred face warily, "You're hanging out with _humans_ now?"

Naruto's expression turns sour, but he ignores both of their questions and steps closer to her, peering into her face worriedly, "Sakura-chan," he says gently, "What happened? Where's-?"

"It's Sasuke," Sakura says, exhaustion making her jaw feel like lead, "He-He killed Itachi-"

"Wait, wait, wait," the Nanabi says, "_Uchiha_ Itachi?"

Sakura does not even have the energy to spare her an irritated look.

"Let's just say…" Sakura says, laughing weakly, "that he's not taking it well."

"How-What happened?" Naruto gawks, hair all over the place, looking like he just woke up.

"Just," Sakura says, swaying a bit, "He's not…you need to come and talk to him so he won't-"

"Wait, you've been hanging around with Uchiha Sasuke and _her_?" Nii cuts in, "What the hell were you thinking, Naru-"

"Excuse me," Sakura snarls, interrupting her with harsh, cutting words, "I was _talking_."

"And who are _you_?" the Nanabi cuts in.

"Haruno Sakura," Sakura says viciously, and by the looks on their faces, she can tell that the jinchuuriki has obviously heard of her, "But I wasn't talking to you."

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto says pleadingly.

"We've got to go," she says, turning towards him and ignoring his unspoken request, "I had to leave him there and it's already been two days…we have to go."

"Yeah, right," Nii says fiercely, stepping forward, "You think you're going to just walk out of he-"

"Enough!" Naruto says loudly, throwing out his left hand to hold her back from advancing any further, "God, Yugito, just let me handle this!"

"Oh, because you're so adapt at," she starts cruelly, but then pauses, looking down at his left, disfigured hand.

"Naruto…" Nii says in astonishment, "How-"

"Your hand," the Nanabi croaks, "Who-"

"It's-It's nothing," Naruto says, seemingly embarrassed. He shoves his left hand back into his pocket, "It's _nothing_."

"Naruto," Sakura says urgently, "We should..."

"I know," he says seriously and swallows.

Naruto turns toward the Nanabi. He opens his mouth again, but then seems to think better of it. A look passes between them, something profound and potentially dynamic-changing, but Sakura does not know what it means.

"Naruto," the brown-haired woman says in horror, "You're-"

"I have to," he says, almost sadly, "I'll be back soon, though. I promise."

Naruto looks towards her and squares his shoulders, his face taking on a determined expression.

"Alright," he says steadily, "I'm ready."

Sakura's vision goes hazy, "Yoku," she says to her winged familiar politely, "Can you lead us out of the fore-"

But before she can finish her sentence, she crumples to the ground in a dead faint.

**A/N: Ugh, I'm **_**so**_** sorry, I started this chapter in June, but then I decided to participate in the sn_exchange and that took literally **_**forever**_** and messed my whole schedule up. I'm sorry that this is a bit of a filler chapter; I would have tried to make it longer, but I just wanted to get something out before I start school again, because I'm not sure how much time I'll have to write then. (Though somehow I always seem to get more done during the school year, lol)  
Anyway, many thanks to my beta, Sleeping Soundly, for beta-ing this. (And also actually starting to write stuff of her own. Yes, I'm looking at you, Sleepy.) Please review!**


	18. Phantom Pains

_ Naruto knows he's not particularly smart. He's known it for a while now, though he'll never admit it out loud. He likes to think he could have been smart, if he'd had parents, had someone more than a friendly teacher to watch over him, but that's neither here nor there. _

_ Because if he'd been smarter, maybe he could have prevented his banishment from Konoha. He could have been there for Sasuke and stopped him from joining up with a creep like Orochimaru. Maybe Sakura-chan wouldn't have become such a remorseless killer. If only he had realized the true implications of being a jinchuuriki in a society run by shinobi. If only he had noticed that Haku hadn't really killed Sasuke all those years ago and the Kyuubi's chakra hadn't revealed itself. If only..._

_ But that's utter shit, isn't it? What's past is past and Naruto learned long ago that there's no point in wishing things were different. Even thinking about it just makes everything hurt all the more and that's the last thing Naruto needs now. _

_ And it's not like his life is all that bad now. Sure, he's on the run from virtually the entire world _and_ an insane group of murderers, but it could be worse. He's got friends, sort of. Gaara and Tsuyu are fun to mess around with, and Yugito is always very patient when teaching him new jutsu. Waka...doesn't really count, but still. He's one of the four people left in the world that will actually voluntarily speak to Naruto, and that's...good?_

_ He really shouldn't complain; things could be far, _far_, worse for him, but over the past few years he's slowly becoming more and more dissatisfied with his lot in life. It took a while, but eventually he did adjust to the fact that he was probably never going to become Hokage, never going go home again, never see any of his friends or teammates in a context that didn't put them immediately at odds. It was hard and painful, but he accepted his new circumstances and tried not to dwell on it. So it's not that. It's not even his homosexual tendencies that he's been trying to bury for a while now._

_ Naruto's just so _lonely_. It's actually kind of funny, in a way, because he's living with four other people and sometimes he thinks he's lonelier than before he went to the Academy. On paper, he has a lot in common with his housemates, if you could call them that. They're all jinchuuriki, they're all outcasts, hunted by most of the major countries and the Akatsuki, but in some ways they're just so different than Naruto. _

_ It's just that...they don't even consider themselves _human_. Tsuyu, especially, talks about other people like they're a different species. Her "us against the world" mentality was comforting when he was younger but now that Naruto's seventeen it's beginning to seem childish and _dangerous_. Gaara and Yugito have the same outlook, that other people are somehow _lesser_ because they don't have a demon sealed in their stomachs, and thus they have no problems taking the lives of their enemies, no matter the circumstances, only holding back because they know Naruto doesn't like it, as opposed to some higher moral code. If Waka hadn't been a jinchuuriki, Tsuyu would have never taken him in and dedicated herself to caring for him. She would have just left him there. _

_ To make matters worse, no matter how Naruto tries to explain it, they simply don't understand why their views are wrong. They don't believe Naruto's assertion that not all other people are automatically hateful and cruel to those who are different than them. Whenever he tries to give examples about Iruka, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, or even Sasuke, they roll their eyes and tell him that he was twelve and was probably unaware of what other people truly thought of him. _

_ Explaining doesn't work. Trying to change their minds doesn't work. And to be completely honest, things have been really awkward since he slept with Tsuyu. Naruto needs a change. _

_ "I just need some space to work a few things out," he tells his companions carefully, trying to ignore the betrayed look on Tsuyu's face. "I'll come back and visit, I promise...I just need some time."_

_ "I suppose there's nothing we can say that's going to convince you not to do this," Gaara says in his usual monotone._

_ "No," Naruto says simply._

_ "I think you're being incredibly reckless," Yugito says in disapproval. "You shouldn't be on your own right now, it's _dangerous_. The Akatsuki are stepping up their attacks. We're the only jinchuuriki left now that Four's been captured and they're going to come after us even more than before. This is not the time to be 'finding yourself.'"_

_ "I'll be alright, I swear," Naruto says, finding himself calm in the face of Yugito's words, knowing that there's no way she can stop this and she knows it. "You won't even notice I'm gone."Yugito opens her mouth to argue, but then she deflates, shoulders slumping and Naruto's won. _

_ Tsuyu packs him enough food to feed an army and they each take turns giving him advice. Stuff like "stay away from the Sound, the entire region's unstable since Orochimaru's death," "don't you dare go into the Rock, they're still furious over the Fox scroll," "keep your head down and don't attract any unwanted attention," and "if you bump into any Akatsuki send out a distress signal and we'll be there as soon as we can."_

_ Naruto listens to the last piece of advice, but he basically ignores the first three. He doesn't want to travel like a criminal. He wants to see the world, meet new people, find something to do that _doesn't _involve him being a jinchuuriki. Naruto wants to make new friends, see snow, get in fights, sleep with beautiful women and men, see the sights. He doesn't want to be Uzumaki Naruto, S-Class nin and jinchuuriki. He wants to be Uzumaki Naruto, tourist._

_ And with this thought in mind, Naruto turns east, heading for the future. _

Chapter Eighteen-

The sun has nearly set by the time Sakura-chan wakes up and even then it's not completely obvious.

"-ruto..." she mumbles into his back as he jumps from branch to branch in one of the Fire Country's trademark deciduous forests.

Naruto stops and jumps to the ground, trying to jostle her as little as possible. He lets her down off his back carefully and leans her up against the trunk of a tree, crouching down in front of her worriedly.

"Sakura-chan?" he says and she blinks slowly. "Do you want some water?"

"Oo...kay," she says weakly and Naruto fumbles for his water bottle and pack of soldier pills.

She drinks slowly, her throat working weakly, and Naruto tries not to notice how pale she is, how large the bags under her eyes are. In any other circumstances, Naruto would find somewhere for her to rest properly, but the news of Sasuke's encounter with Itachi cannot be ignored. He has always seen the anger in Sasuke, even when they were children, and he fears what will Sasuke will do now that his purpose has been fulfilled.

"Where..." Sakura-chan groans after she has drank enough, closing her eyes again.

"We've just reached the Fire Country," Naruto tells her, putting the back of his hand on her forehead to check her temperature. It seems normal, but Naruto's not a medic-nin and he especially doesn't know what's normal for humans.

"Hurry," Sakura-chan says faintly, hands trying to push herself off the ground weakly "I don't want to...he was so mad..."

"Mad?" Naruto frowns. "But...I mean...I thought he _wanted _to kill Itachi."

"Itachi told him why he murdered the entire clan," Sakura-chan murmurs, eyes still closed. "Fucking crazy bastard did it 'cause...Konoha ordered him to."

"No," Naruto says, blood going ice cold in his veins. "No. He's lying. They _wouldn't_ do tha-"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Sakura-chan admits, opening her eyes and looking at him wearily. "The Uchiha were planning a coup, I think. So the Sandaime, Danzou and those two Council members who just died last week, ordered Uchiha Itachi to slaughter them all. And there was also some other man...he was trying to get Sasuke to attack Konoha, but he left after I showed up."

"We have to go," Naruto says, picking her limp body up and pulling her onto his back again.

"That's what _I_ said," Sakura-chan grumbles as Naruto scales the tree and leaps to the next branch, but Naruto's not really paying attention to her anymore.

Sasuke has been alone for two days, almost three now, and as much as Naruto hates to admit it, he has no problem imagining a scenario in which Sasuke would attack Konoha. Loyalty has never been Sasuke's strong suit and Naruto's own capture and torture by their old country had made Sasuke angry enough to kill seven people. The fact that Sasuke grew up in Konoha is not going to stop him from razing the city to the ground for the massacre of his family.

And the Sandaime...Naruto _liked_ that old man. He had been the only one to speak up for Naruto after the mission to the Wave Country and Naruto had been devastated to discover his death during Konoha's one day war with the Sand. He doesn't like to think that the old man could have been responsible for something like the Uchiha massacre.

_"That's the problem with humans," _Tsuyu had told him once. _"They're a bunch of greedy liars, saying one thing and doing another. They'll always fuck you over for a couple ryou, Naruto. Remember that."_

He hadn't really believed her then, still didn't really believe her now, but he can't help remembering those words in the face of the Sandaime's betrayal.

Before he can get distracted with thinking about the implications of Tsuyu's _other_ words to him, he increases his speed and focuses on completing his long journey as fast as possible.

"Was she mad?" Sakura-chan asks a few hours later when they've stopped for dinner.

Naruto looks up at her from where he's stirring the pot of mushroom soup over the fire. "Who?"

"That girl," Sakura-chan says, sitting up on her own now and generally looking a lot more healthy. "With the brown hair. Th-The holder of the Nanabi, I think."

"Tsuyu? Well, yeah...a bit," Naruto says carefully, glancing down at the soup again. "She's always pissed at me though. She'll get over it."

Sakura-chan doesn't look convinced, probably because Naruto himself isn't convinced of his own words, but opts not to push him any further on the subject, which Naruto appreciates.

"We've got more important things to deal with anyway," Naruto says, more to himself than Sakura-chan, ladling some soup into his worn traveling bowl.

"You didn't tell her about us," Sakura-chan says softly, and Naruto stiffens.

"No," he says after a long pause and hands her the bowl, making sure her hands close fully around it before letting go of the chipped ceramic. "Tsuyu, she...well, all of them really...they don't really like humans."

Sakura-chan frowns, holding her soup, but not drinking it. "You don't consider yourself human?"

Naruto honestly doesn't know what to say. He'd always thought the answer was obvious, of course he was human, but now that someone outright asks the question, he's not so sure. Tsuyu and the rest don't think of each other as human, Gaara even refers to himself as a monster on occasion, but Naruto was always different than them. As much blood as he has on his hands, he knows he's not a monster, and being with Sasuke and Sakura-chan certainly makes him feel human, but...

"I don't know," he says honestly, with an uncomfortable shrug of his shoulders. "It's different. I'm...I'm a jinchuuriki."

He used to hate that word. Funny how it comes so easily to him now.

"Naruto," Sakura-chan says, her brow furrowed worriedly. "You're not...I mean, biologically speaking you're the same as anyone el-"

"I know," Naruto says, ladling himself a bowl now, not looking at her as he speaks. "But it's not that simple."

It used to be that simple. Or he thought it was anyway. He was going to graduate from the Academy, kick Sasuke's ass, become the strongest ninja ever, and be Hokage. He used to know what he wanted from life, all the years ahead planned out. Now he barely knows where he'll be sleeping each night. And if Tsuyu and Yugito are right, the bitterness about it all is eating him up from the inside to the point where he doesn't remember how it felt to be without it. He thinks it might be.

"Naruto," Sakura-chan persists, still not touching her food. "You're a normal person! If you took the Kyuubi out, you'd be-"

"I'd be dead," Naruto says flatly, and for the first time he feels truly angry at Sakura-chan. "Just drop it, okay? And eat your soup. We've got a long way to go."

Sakura grimaces, her scars twisting grotesquely, but she ultimately complies. They don't speak again for the rest of the night, and Naruto tries to ignore the worry shining in her eyes.

They make it to the north-eastern part of the Fire Country by noon the next day and by then Sakura-chan has recovered enough to travel on her own. They exchange words only when necessary and Naruto tries to keep him mind mostly on their destination, instead of thinking about Sasuke and Konoha, and whether or not he owes Sakura-chan an apology for his rudeness last night. He thinks he does, but he's not sure how to say it, and then he'd have to explain what being a jinchuuriki really means to him. He's never told anyone that, and he probably never will. It's just too...private, and there aren't many things Naruto can say that about.

Sakura-chan leads him on a convoluted path through the mountain range that separates Old Sound and the Fire Country until they reach a shallow cave in the unforgiving granite. Sakura-chan jerks her head in its direction and Naruto ventures forward, hand on his shuriken pouch.

"Sasuke?" he says hesitantly. "You there?"

There's no answer, but as soon as Naruto starts to panic, he steps into the mouth of the cave to find Sasuke leaned up against the wall, fast asleep. Naruto lets out a breath of relief and makes no attempt at sneakiness as he approaches, but Sasuke does not stir. This worries him almost as much as the bandage over his eye.

"What happened?" he frowns, looking over his shoulder at Sakura-chan, who is watching him closely from the outside.

"There was some bruising and bleeding when I found him," she replies, looking over Sasuke's still unconscious form. "I think...I think Itachi might have tried to rip it out."

A sick feeling spreads through his stomach, and Naruto carefully reaches out to put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder under his cloak. Sasuke gives a little jerk, uncovered eye moving under his lid, but he does not wake. He is even paler than usual and cold to the touch.

"I don't..." Sakura-chan says hoarsely. "I don't think he's moved since I left."

Naruto feels a sudden flash of anger at her leaving him here in this state-what was she _thinking_-but doesn't snap out a rude response. Instead he lifts Sasuke onto his back and strides past her out of the cave.

"Where's the nearest town?" he asks bluntly.

"Ningyo," Sakura-chan replies softly. She reaches up to touch Sasuke's forehead with the back of her hand. "No fever, but we should get him somewhere warm."

_"Obviously," _Naruto thinks spitefully, but grunts in agreement, tightening his hold on Sasuke's legs.

"Let's go then," he says shortly and Sakura-chan's face falls at his tone.

"This way," she says after a short pause and jumps to the next flat place on the mountain several meters above him. "It's a little slippery though, so you'd best watch your step."

* * *

The girl at the counter of the inn and all its patrons stare at them as they enter the room, but they manage to check in without anyone starting a fight, which is all you can really hope for in the no man's land that used to be the Sound. Though they had designated the city as their meeting point when Naruto left, Sakura has never been to Ningyo before, and she is starting to see why. Old Sound has always been unstable, but Ningyo is another breed all together. Just walking through it Sakura can tell that the entire city is run by factions of various different gangs, possibly comprised of Orochimaru's former shinobi. It makes her regret ever considering this to be a safe place at all, especially with Sasuke's presence. If they get out of Ningyo without a fight it'll be a miracle, but it's the closest place with a bed and Sakura doesn't think Naruto would appreciate being told they have to go elsewhere. He's been short with her ever since seeing the condition Sasuke was in, despite the fact that there was nothing Sakura could have done. Sasuke was hardly going to listen to her, while Naruto has always had a special talent of annoying Sasuke into doing what he wants. And if it takes Naruto being pissed at her to get Sasuke to eat, then so be it.

They're just about to walk up the stairs to their room when Sakura catches sight of the calendar behind the check-in desk and the world spins briefly before righting itself, leaving an empty feeling in her stomach.

It's still there five minutes later when Naruto knocks on her door after making sure Sasuke's lying comfortably.

"It's April 2nd," she says when he opens the door, not moving from her seat on the rickety chair by the bed, staring at her hands.

"Ooookay?" Naruto says, sounding confused.

Sakura looks up at him and sees him stare at the helplessness she knows must be all over her face. "I didn't know...I didn't realize..."

Naruto still doesn't know what she's talking about, so Sakura takes a deep breath and steadies herself.

"March 28th was my birthday. My twentieth."

She knows that it doesn't really make a difference. Twenty is hardly older than nineteen, and Sakura has been an adult is all senses of the word for years now. But she can't shake the feeling that something monumental has changed, that as hard as she tries to deny it, the fact that she is no longer a teenager _matters_.

_"It's not fair_,_"_ she finds herself thinking. _"I thought I had more time."_

But the years are slowly winding down and now Sakura only has six years until she reaches the age the average shinobi dies.

"Happy Birthday," Naruto tells her, still looking puzzled, and Sakura turns her mask over in her hands slowly.

"How is Sasuke?" she asks abruptly, trying to ignore the pity in his gaze and direct it elsewhere.

"Still asleep," Naruto says.

He sits down across from her on the foot of the bed, eyeing her closely.

"I...I'm sorry for...before," he mumbles uncomfortably. "I shouldn't have been so..."

Sakura shrugs. "He wouldn't listen to me. Wouldn't eat. And he listens to you."

Naruto stares at her. "What are you talking about?" he says with a nervous laugh. "He doesn't give a damn what I have to say."

Sakura very much doubts this is true, but she knows nothing she can say will convince Naruto that Sasuke most likely cares for him far more than he would like. Naruto seems to understand what she means however, and frowns.

"Uh, Sakura-chan, you know me and him, I mean, we're not, you know..." Naruto says uncomfortably, cheeks flaring red. "We're not, you know, _together_ or anything." He scrunches his nose at the word as if it is particularly distasteful. "It's just sort of a..._thing_."

"A thing," Sakura repeats in amusement. "How descriptive."

Naruto rolls his eyes. "You know what I mean. We're just friends how happen to screw each other, you know. I just don't want you to get the wrong idea."

Sakura doesn't believe that he really feels that way, or Sasuke feels that way for that matter. She sees too much of herself in Sasuke (what a terrifying thought) to believe that he has completely platonic feelings for their other comrade, and Naruto's always been a terrible liar, whether he's realized how he feels or not. But it's not really any of her business, so Sakura merely nods and places her mask carefully on the desk.

Naruto stands and walks to the window where he pulls open the ratty curtains.

"This town isn't exactly the safest place for us, right?" he asks, looking down at the street below.

"No, it's not," Sakura agrees. "Any large town in Sound is bad news, really."

Naruto looks out at Ningyo through the window for a few moments before speaking again.

"What happened to you, Sakura-chan?" he says, turning and Sakura squirms uncomfortably at the sadness in his eyes. "You didn't use to be this way."

Sakura doesn't say anything for a while, but when the words come to her, they are clear and honest.

"You all left," she says simply, leaning back in her chair and raising her eyes to the ceiling. "It wasn't your fault, of course. I always thought it was mine, actually. And then I begged Sasuke not to go and he went anyway and after that Kakashi was assigned elsewhere. It was okay, still, for a while, but then Dazou... that _bastard_, had Tsunade-sama killed, and I couldn't...I couldn't stay anymore. I saw what revenge did to Sasuke and I knew I didn't want that. And Danzou knew I was the only one who was aware that he framed Tsunade-sama-oh, others had suspicions, I'm sure- but I had proof. But he controlled everything, the ANBU, the Council...there was no way I could have done anything. He quietly dismissed me from the ANBU, slashed my forehead protector and everything."

She taps the scarred symbol of the Konoha shinobi with her fingernail and sighs heavily. "He probably would have left me alone, if I'd just become a civilian and kept my mouth shut. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't watch him claim the title of Rokudaime Hokage or listen to them drag Tsunade-sama's name through the mud. It was either leave or kill him, and I thought it was better if I left."

"You did the right thing," Naruto says quietly, with such confidence that she snort with unamused laughter.

"For me, maybe. But not for the village and certainly not for you. So many people would be alive if I'd killed him in the beginning." She turns to Naruto seriously. "And you would still have those two fingers."

Naruto flinches, but doesn't look away. "But you regret killing him, don't you?"

"I don't know," Sakura says honestly. "Not really. But I thought...I thought I could be better than that, I guess."

Naruto doesn't say anything, probably has nothing to say, and shortly afterward goes to check on Sasuke.

Sakura slowly unpack her things, grimacing at her singed pink shirt, still covered in Hoshigaki Kisame's dried blood. She soaks it in the inn bathroom sink while she eats a several days old onigiri and then takes a short nap.

By the time she wakes the sun has fallen, and she gets up wearily to tend to her shirt. The water filled sink has turned a light red with the combination of her pink shirt and the blood upon it and Sakura laves her hands up with soap and begins to scrub the stains out. But the soap is cheap, the water hard, and the blood has been soaking into her shirt for days now. Still, Sakura spends almost an hour hunched over her pink shirt, scrubbing it until her hands bleed the same color as the water and the stains upon it before she gives up.

Suddenly furious, Sakura throws the sodden shirt at the mirror, spraying it with bloody water that drips down over her reflection. Pink, the color of her girlish innocence, has been stained beyond wash or repair, and Sakura cannot help laughing at how fitting it all is. Of course it's this shirt, the shirt Lee'd bought her just months before Tsunade-sama died. Of course.

She laughs until her giggles turn to sobs and then Haruno Sakura, twenty years old, S-Class nin, former Konoha ANBU Captain codename A756, _murderer,_ flies out of the tiny bathroom, grabs a pillow off the bed and screams into it.

* * *

"Go _away_," Sasuke hisses furiously, because it's the only thing he can do. His chest is shredded up even with Sakura's healing, he can't see out of one _eye_, his family is dead because of the fear and hatred of their own country, and Naruto won't _leave_.

He can't move, isn't strong enough to get away, to put enough distance between Sakura and Naruto so they won't bother him anymore, so the only option is to make Naruto leave, but he _won't_. It's infuriating, and Sasuke can literally feel the sanity slipping further and further away from him, a sensation he hasn't felt since his years with Orochimaru.

"Shut up and eat, asshole," Naruto tells him, absolutely no pity in his eyes and he must be crazier than he thought because it's the only reason he finds himself glad that it's him and not Sakura.

"Go away," Sasuke repeats, trying to push himself out of bed and hit Naruto until he leaves.

Naruto doesn't even rise from his seat and shoves him back until he hits the headboard, careful not to spill the bowl piled high with rice in his other hand.

"Nope, not going to happen," Naruto retorts, unimpressed by Sasuke's minor mental breakdown.

Sasuke makes a swing for him, but Naruto easily parries and grabs his arm, fingers digging into the muscles of his forearm.

"You won't be able to kick my ass with that kind of strength," Naruto observes with infinite patience that Sasuke would be surprised at if he could think about anything other than how much he wants to kill someone, to have some sort of closure on a crime who's perpetrators are all already dead.

Sasuke _hates_ him.

"You think I care about _you_?" Sasuke says as viciously as possible, actually shaking with anger now. "You're not worth the effort, you fucking idio-"

"You can say whatever you like, but you're not going to make me leave," Naruto says, but the hurt on his face is undeniable. "Eat first, beat the shit out of me later. Sound like a plan?"

"Go fuck yourself," Sasuke says in response and of all things _that_ seems to bring Naruto's patience to the breaking point and he lunges at Sasuke and pins him to the bed.

"Get the fuck off m-" Sasuke hisses furiously as Naruto pins his wrists to his sides.

"Shut up, you complete _bastard_," Naruto snarls back at him, face only centimeters from his own, breath fanning his cheek. "You're going to eat if I have to stuff it down your stupid throat, do you hear me? I know it's hard, I know you don't want to talk about it, but you _hav-_"

"Know?" Sasuke retorts, slamming his forehead against Naruto's and struggling against him even though his chest is throbbing in agony. "What do _you_ know? You never had parents, so you don't know a damn thi-"

"Maybe not," Naruto allows, shoving him back onto the pillow, forehead still pressed to his, chest a solid weight anchoring him to the mattress. "But I'm not asking you to get over it, talk about it, or even not completely freak out. I'm asking you to eat. That's all."

Naruto is much too close, his upper body pressed tightly against Sasuke's, hands still restraining his wrists, breath smelling like ramen, and eyes much, much too blue. Sasuke always knew he was fucked up, he could hardly avoid it with all the things he's been through, but he's acutely aware that his desire to kiss Naruto right this instant is a sign that he has sunken to new depths.

It's probably one of the stupidest things he could do right now, with how the past few days have been, but Sasuke tries very hard and fails to give a damn.

"I _hate_ you," he repeats and leans up to capture Naruto's scowling mouth.

Naruto's blue eyes go wide with surprise and his grip on Sasuke's wrists loosens. It's the last thing Sasuke sees before he closes his good eye and loops an arm around Naruto's neck to keep him in place. Naruto makes a protesting noise against his mouth and tries to jerk away, but Sasuke deepens the kiss just the way Naruto likes it and he soon relents.

This Sasuke understands. This is simple, just a melding of two bodies, devoid of any sort of emotion or complications. He just needs a distraction so he doesn't have to think about his parents' dead bodies, his brother standing over them with no emotion in his cold Sharingan eyes, or the reason they're dead in the first place, and Naruto has always been an excellent distraction.

"Oh, my God, what is _wrong_ with you?" Naruto groans, moving to his neck, and Sasuke tenses. He opens his eye to stare at the ceiling and tries desperately not to groan, because the problem with sleeping with the same person for months is that they know all your weak spots and Naruto's always taken advantage of the fact that he has a neck thing.

A slightly hysterical sound bubbles up from his throat as Naruto, pushes a thigh between his, laves his tongue over his Adam's apple and Sasuke chokes on a garbled version of Naruto's name. His toes curl into the bed clothes as Naruto nips at his collarbone, hands tracing careful patterns on his bandaged chest and tries to ignore the horrible realization that this is _not helping_.

Before he can go into full panic attack mode, Naruto pulls back and Sasuke closes his good eye so he doesn't have to see the look in his eyes, hating how absurdly grateful he feels in this moment.

"Just, fuck," Naruto says roughly and presses a quick kiss to his forehead. "Just fucking eat, okay?"

"Whatever, fine," Sasuke manages to spit out, shoving ineffectually at Naruto's shoulder. "Will you go away then?"

Naruto doesn't. But Sasuke finds he doesn't mind. Because of course even during the midst of a mental breakdown Naruto can always get him to do what he wants.

They don't stay in Ningyo long as it's an unstable area, and Sakura keeps going out and coming back with mussed clothes and bruised knuckles. Naruto worries that she's getting into brawls to deal with the stress caused by the Fire Country's continuing civil unrest. Sasuke doesn't give a fuck, but spitefully wishes a full-blown civil war on the inhabitants of their old country, complete with an invasion by the Rock or something to finish things off, because just because he's decided not to attack them doesn't mean he doesn't hate them with a blinding passion. He doesn't, however, voice these thoughts to either of his companions because of the hassle, and definitely _not_ because he doesn't want to see the disappointed look on Naruto's face.

They move west along the border of Old Sound and the Fire Country for a while to better hear news of the rebellion, though Sasuke doesn't really pay attention. He talks even less than he usually does and mostly focuses on not going into a homicidal rage. It's one of the hardest things he's ever done, but despite Naruto's general annoyingness and Sakura's apparent inability to know what to say to him, he can privately admit they're the only reason the hate and righteous fury haven't boiled over and led him down a far darker path.

Sasuke focuses on controlling the rage, because if he thinks about anything else; about the look on Itachi's face right before he fell, the pointlessness of the last _twelve years of his life_, the continued existence of the country that massacred his clan, or the emptiness of the future that looms before him he might break into a million pieces and never be able to stand tall again.

Revenge and anger would be easy, he knows. But if Sasuke has learned anything at all in his almost twenty years, it is that the easy things are worth almost nothing in the end.

It takes a few days after they depart from Ningyo for his injuries to heal and even then Sakura theorizes that it will take months before his left eye is fully functional again. To save bandages, Sasuke is forced to fashion himself a makeshift eye-patch from a piece of cloth to keep it clean, leading him to wonder what other people they encounter must make of them: Sakura with her facial scars, Naruto with his missing fingers, and he with his eye-patch. Will the mutilation ever cease?

Things are uneventful for about a week, or as uneventful as they can be when you're on the run from your former country, which you just found out ordered the murders of your parents by your mentally unstable older brother whom you just killed in revenge, but then everything gets kicked into overdrive once more.

It starts when, completely without explanation, Sakura veers off course, heading for a small clusters of reeds by a nearby creek.

"Oi, Sakura-chan!" Naruto calls worriedly, leaping after her. "Where are you g-"

He stops short, eyes widening and Sasuke sighs and jumps to the ground from his place on a tall oak branch. Not particularly interested, but feeling nonetheless obligated to see what all the fuss is about, Sasuke approaches Naruto, the creek coming more fully into view.

There is a man lying in the shallows, his blood soaking the water around him a deep red. He has long white hair, strange marks on his face, and Sasuke can tell with one look that he is not long for this world.

"Ji-Jiraiya-sama," Sakura chokes, kneeling beside him in the water, face blank with shock.

"Yo, Sakura," the last of the Great Sannin says weakly, coughing out a bit of blood as he says her name. "Long time no see."

**A/N: I LIVE! I cannot believe I haven't updated this since SEPTEMBER OF 2010. Seriously, I think this is the worst gap between chapters ever. I'm really, really sorry, but the combination of other 100k plotbunnies and the way the current Naruto manga is going has really screwed me up. I've technically been working on this chapter since August, but the manga keeps killing all my ideas! Anyway, I've come up with a plan now, but, damn, was it difficult!**

** Thanks for everyone who stayed with this fic even with the huge waits between chapters and I'm really, _really_ sorry! Hopefully now that I know where this fic is going the next chapter will be out with less of a wait! Please review!**


	19. Four Is Death

_ It starts, quite innocently, with a cough. It turns into the flu later, but years after the fact, Sakura will look back and realize that without this cough, the entire world would be different._

_ Or maybe not. Maybe what happened was inevitable. Maybe if it wasn't the cough, it would have been something else._

_ But there's no way to tell, of course, so Sakura chooses to pinpoint the cough as where it all began._

_ Tsunade-sama shrugs it off at first and goes about her daily routine as usual. She switches her sake for hot tea, but continues to go to meetings and diligently fills out her paperwork. But, after a week, Tsunade-sama's face becomes pale and haggard, her handwriting near-illegible, and when Sakura finds out that she's missed a meeting after having fallen asleep at her desk, she hesitantly suggests that Tsunade-sama take a break. _

_ "You sound like Shizune," Tsunade-sama grumbles, her voice rough and painful sounding. "I'm fine, it's just a bug. Now, I have work to do. Don't you have somewhere to be?"_

_ "She's been forgetting things lately," Shizune tells her worriedly, a day later, outside the Hokage's office, in which Tsunade-sama is sleeping soundly. "It's only the flu...if she would just take a couple days off, she'd be fine, but she's so stubborn! She doesn't trust anyone else to handle the summit with the Sand next week, so she just does everything herself!"_

_ Sakura worries and takes extra care to stop by Tsunade-sama's office as much as she can to check up on her, but she doesn't take action until her mentor faints at a routine monthly meeting with several Jounin._

_ "Tsunade-sama, please!" Sakura pleads, hands shaking as she stands in front of Tsunade-sama's hospital bed. "You don't have to do this! Please, just take a couple days off! Shizune-san and I can manage your duties until you get ba-"_

_ "With the Council?" Tsunade-sama gives out what she probably intends to be an incredulous snort. "They won't answer to you and I can't afford to show any weakness at this juncture."_

_ "Well, it's a bit late for that!" Sakura thinks, but has the sense not to vocalize._

_ Tsunade-sama must see it on her face though and she sighs, wiping her watering eyes and nose wearily. She looks so tired, a ghost of the fearless leader Sakura had begged to train her all those years ago and Sakura feels her chest start to tighten with the stirrings of actual fear. _

_ "It's just the flu, Sakura," Tsunade-sama tells her reassuringly, and then lets out two loud sneezes. "I just can't afford to take any days off right now, alright? But if it gets really bad, I will. I promise."_

_ Sakura reluctantly takes her at her word and for a while, things seem to get better. Tsunade-sama makes sure not to over-exert herself, having meetings in her office instead of traveling to different parts of Konoha herself, and drinks as many herbal concoctions that Shizune and Sakura can force down her throat. _

_ Then, she disappears. _

_ Sakura and Shizune split up to search the village, deciding against telling anyone else that she's missing. It would do no good to cause a panic, and after all, it could be nothing. Tsunade-sama has never been very good at following the strict rules that a leader in her position is expected to adhere to. _

_ It isn't nothing, of course, but Sakura has no way of knowing that at the time, so when she finally finds Tsunade-sama in one of Konoha's remote research facilities, she is furious. _

_ "What are you doing here?!" she yells, bursting into the rather depressed room. It's a small, almost claustrophobic sort of space, the wallpaper is yellowing and torn in spots and the shelves of scrolls look like they are one flick away from collapsing under their weight. Tsunade-sama is seated on a stool at a table by the window, a mountain of books and scrolls beside her. _

_ "Sakura!" Tsunade-sama says, looking shocked. "Why are you-"_

_ "Shizune-san and I have been looking for you for _fourhours_!" Sakura shouts angrily, stalking toward her table. "You're supposed to be resting and an emissary from the Rock just left because you _weren't in your office_!"_

_ "I had more pressing matters to attend to," Tsunade-sama said crossly, not getting up from her seat. Her face is sweat-stained and her pupils dilated. She looks _awful_. _

_ "More pressing than a meeting with the Rock about their iron imports! You've been trying to talk with them about that for _years_! And instead you're-" Sakura glances down at the scrolls, shaking from the effort of holding back more words inappropriate to express her frustration and worry. "-you're reading old mission reports!"_

_ "Sakura, I don't have time for this right now!" Tsunade-sama snaps, glaring at her with exhausted eyes. "And you are bordering on insubordination here! You will leave this instant and-"_

_ But Sakura stops listening as she realizes, to her horror, that Tsunade-sama's hands are shaking around the scroll she's holding. She lunges forward to press her hand against her forehead._

_ "You're burning up!" she accuses and Tsunade-sama jerks away, but the motion almost causes her to tip over onto the floor. "Tsunade-sama!"_

_ "Enough! Sakura!" Tsunade-sama barks out, leaning against the table to keep her balance. Now that she's closer, Sakura can see the dark circles under her eyes, her sweat-soaked haori. She's surprised she hasn't fainted again. "Go!"_

_ "I am not goi-"_

_ The building explodes._

_ The air is full of splinters. Shards of stone and metal. Sakura is thrown into a shelf and it immediately gives way, falling backward into another like dominoes. Sakura can't seem to hear, her ears ringing with pain, but she's well trained enough at this point to roll over despite the pain, covering her head with both arms._

_ "Tsunade-sama!" she screams and she can barely hear her own voice through all the ringing. She scrambles to get to her feet, but her center of gravity has been thrown off and she keeps falling and scraping her hands and knees on the debris all over the floor. She finally manages it on the fourth try and is immediately sent into a coughing fit from all the dust in the air._

_ "Tsunade-sama!" she screams when she can breathe again. _

_ The room is a complete mess, shelves in pieces, window shattered, but fortunately the ceiling hasn't caved in. Sakura has to rub her eyes several times to see properly and finally she spots Tsunade-sama slumped against the wall next to the heater. She stumbles across the room, nearly tripping over pieces of ceiling tiles and drops to her knees next to Tsunade-sama._

_ "Tsunade-sama! Tsunade-sama!" she yells, touching her shoulders gently, trying to see if there's any damage. "Wake up! There's been a-"_

_ "Tsunade-hime!" A loud voice boomed out from outside the building, amplified through a loud speaker and Sakura goes frozen with shock. "The building is surrounded! You are under arrest for the suspicion of treason! Come out with your hands in the air!"_

_ Sakura knows that voice. "Wha-"_

_ Tsunade-sama shifts beneath her hands and lets out a horrible laugh, slightly muffled by the floor._

_ "Tsunade-sama," Sakura gasps, looking around the room, trying to see out the broken window, but there's nothing to see. "I don't...what's going on?"_

_ "Oh, this is just brilliant," Tsunade-sama heaves, getting to a seated position shakily. "Of all the ways for this to end...this fucking flu..."_

_ "Is that _Danzou_?!" Sakura snarls, getting to her feet and fumbling with her kunai hostler. "That bastard, how dare he attack you- I'm going to ki-"_

_ Tsunade-sama is on her feet and grabs the wrist of her hand holding out her kunai. _

_ "No, Sakura," she says, suddenly deathly calm. There is even less color in her face than before, her hand still shaking around her wrist, but her eyes are set and determined. "You can't do that."_

_ "If you think I'm just going to let him accuse you of-" Sakura starts hotly and then stops, connecting the dots in her head. "That's...that's what he's after, isn't it? This whole time, this is what he's wanted."_

_ "Sakura," Tsunade-sama tries weakly._

_ "You have one minute!" Danzou's voice booms and the anger drains out of Sakura, to be replaced by horror. _

_ "This is a power-grab!" Sakura exclaims, fear spreading through her chest like ice._

_ Tsunade-sama says nothing, just takes the kunai out of her hand and Sakura lets her because suddenly this has gotten so much more serious than a persistent flu._

_ "No," Sakura says furiously, spinning around. She heads for the window, kicking aside pieces of woods and plaster out of the way. "No, this is not...I won't let him do this. We can get out of this. I'll summon-"_

_ "There's no getting out of this, Sakura!" Tsunade-sama yells and Sakura turns around in shock at her outburst to see Tsunade-sama slumping back against the wall, legs shaking badly._

_ "I can't..." she says softly. "I don't have the energy. This flu...oh, of all the things to finish me..."_

_ "Stop saying that!" Sakura says, terrified. "Just...stay there, okay! I'm going to get us out of this!"_

_ She turns around again, looking around the room to see what she can use to fend off a major assault by ANBU operatives, when Tsunade-sama speaks again._

_ "I'm done for," she says softly, "but you don't have to be. I'm so, _so_ sorry, Sakura."_

_ And then before Sakura can react, there's the horrible pain in her back of the expert slash of a kunai. Her mouth drops open in pain, but she's so shocked she cannot move even as the kunai slashes open her back twice more. A strangled sound rips from her throat and she forces herself to move, but she just turns into another blur of steel, gashing her face open in two places. Blood drips down her forehead, and she just manages to see the tears on Tsunade-sama's face, kunai gripped tightly in her right hand, before it gets in her eyes. Her stomach is next, her chest, her arms, her shoulder, her legs and Sakura can only think _why, why, why_, as she slumps to the ground, her body a mass of pain and blood._

_ She feels Tsunade-sama's hand around her neck and for the first time she think she might actually kill her. Then there's the soft press of lips against her bloody forehead, and everything goes dark._

_ When Sakura wakes four days later to sunlight streaming through the hospital windows, bandages covering her face, torso, arms, and legs, they tell her Tsunade-sama is dead. _

Chapter Nineteen-

"Don't move," Sakura says, pulling him out of the shallows of the creek and removing the tattered remains of his shirt aside. She jerks her medicine pouch open with one hand and starts to heal his bleeding chest with the other.

"Don't...bother..." Jiraiya-sama breathes out weakly, breath shallow and cold under her touch. "Just listen, okay... I need to tell you..."

"Shut up!" Sakura says, a sob threatening to spill out of her, because she knows, as much as she doesn't want to admit it, that there is nothing she can do.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto says from behind her. "Who is-"

"Be quiet," Sakura says, tears trailing down her cheeks already, trying to pull herself together. She increases her chakra flow, thinking that she might be able stimulate th-

"Listen to me," Jiraiya-sama gasps, eyes unfocused. "I've...been looking for you. The Akatsuki...their leader..."

"Pein?" Sasuke asks, and Sakura looks up at him next to her on the bank of the creek. His face is cold and impassive. He cares nothing for the man dying before them and for a second she is filled with the uncontrollable urge to rip his remaining good eye out.

"Dead...puppet..." Jiraiya-sama chokes and his face twists in a bitter smile. "Nagato. Yahiko. Konan. All dead."

"I don't understand," Sakura sobs, still trying to heal his broken body. "Who are-"

"See 'em soon," Jiraiya-sama murmurs and closes his eyes.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Sakura shouts into his face, taking all leave of her senses, because he can't die, he can't leave her, the last of the Legendary Sannin.

Jiraiya's eyes open slowly and he lets out a shaky breath. "You look awful, kid," he says weakly and Sakura chokes on her tears, because she knows, horribly, that this is really the end.

She feels a hand on her shoulder and Naruto pushes reeds aside to crouch next to her in the mud, pulling her close to him soothingly.

"Jiraiya-sama, I can't-" she tries, but he cuts her off.

"There's only one left. Tobi, Madara...don't know who-"

"_What_?" Sasuke says sharply, only now seeming to take an interest. "What about Madara?"

Jiraiya-sama ignores him, or perhaps doesn't hear him at all. His brown eyes turn to Naruto instead. "Heard you were traveling with him," he wheezes, and then coughs, blood spurting out of his mouth. Naruto stiffens next to her and Sakura tries to push more chakra into his wounds, willing them to close, just this once to defy all the medical ninjutsu she'd ever studied.

"Got something for you..." Jiraiya-sama says softly, blood spilling down his mouth and onto his long white hair. He shudders, gesturing to his bag, still floating in the shallows. "Scroll...your dad would have wanted you to have it."

"What?" Naruto says shrilly.

But Jiraiya-sama doesn't elaborate and moves his eyes slowly back to Sakura. "Madara, Tobi, whoever he's in charge, it's his plan. I don't know why he wants the jinchuuriki, but he was working with Kabuto-"

"Kabuto?" Sasuke says sharply, coming to stand on Sakura's other side. "What does he have to do with this?"

"Tried to continue Orochimaru's work," Jiraiya-sama mumbled, closing his eyes again. "Experimented on himself though. Died about two years ago. Akatsuki got him or he finally went too far and poisoned himself."

Sakura can finally no longer justify her healing ninjutsu and drops her hands helplessly to his chest, tears streaming silently down her cheeks.

She can't do this. She can't. Not again. Jiraiya-sama and Shizune were the only people who were-

"Jiraiya-sama!" she gasps, rubbing furiously at her tears. "Jiraiya-sama, please, Shizune-san! She was with you, wasn't she? Is she still alive?"

"Village north of here, called Shikai," Jiraiya-sama opens his eyes to look at her again. "Stop it, will you? Promise me, you'll stop him. For Konoha."

"Anything," Sakura gasps out and grasps his hand. "I will, I will."

It's almost a little strange, how upset she is. To be honest, she never knew Jiraiya-sama that well. He was never in Konoha that much, and she'd always disliked his immaturity and ridiculous erotica novels. But he's one of the few people left who knew Tsunade-sama as well as she did. Sakura had always suspected that her mentor was a little in love with him as well.

"You did...good, kid," Jiraiya-sama whispers brokenly and closes his eyes again. Sakura can practically see the life draining out of him, his eyes going dull and his skin the color of paper. "She would be so proud of you."

Jiraiya-sama dies in her lap four hours later, in his sleep.

Naruto sits with her, Jiraiya's bag at his side while Sasuke buries with the body. He holds her hand comfortingly as she stares into their campfire and thinks of nothing at all.

The next day they go to Shikai and find Shizune in a small decrypt shack, surrounded by cramped beds full of the sick.

"Sa-Sakura-san?" Shizune gasps in delight as Sakura removes her mask. "Is that really you?"

"Shizune-san," Sakura acknowledges, the joy of meeting an old friend completely ruined by the news she must force herself to impart.

"Oh, Sakura-san!" Shizune exclaims, weaving between the beds to get to the door. "How did you find m-"

She trails off as she takes in the look on Sakura's face and goes suddenly rigid. "Oh...oh, no. No, please, Sakura-san, no, he isn't, he can't be-"

Sakura pulls her into her arms as Shizune gasps and begins to shake with grief, ignoring the stares of Naruto, Sasuke, and the patients around them. Shizune cries, quite loudly, into her shoulder, and Sakura wonders for the millionth time how they are supposed to keep on living in a world where Tsunade-sama is truly, completely, irrevocably dead.

* * *

Sakura and the short-haired woman who's name Sasuke has already forgotten have shut themselves away somewhere. Naruto is at a loss, Sakura's intense grief and the brief mention of a father that he no doubt never knew he had has thrown him completely off. They're on the outskirts of the village, away from the prying eyes of curious villagers, villagers Sasuke cannot help notice look starved and impoverished, and Naruto has been pacing back and forth distractedly. In other circumstances, Sasuke might have been annoyed by this display, but he is more than a little distracted at the moment.

Leaning against the trunk of a large oak, Sasuke's mind is whirring excitedly for the first time in months. Jiraiya's words have sparked an interest inside the gray blur of apathy that he has been drowning in these past few weeks. Madara, or at least the man who claimed he was Madara, was the last of the Akatsuki. The man who had helped Itachi murder their entire family. The man who'd tried to manipulate Sasuke into attacking Konoha for his own, mysterious ends. With his dying breath, the last of the Legendary Sannin had pinpointed him as the ringleader of it all. The man behind the Akatsuki, the Uchiha Massacre, maybe even the experiments on all those villagers, though to be honest, that seemed like more of Orochimaru's style. Jiraiya might have claimed Kabuto was dead, but was he really? Was he still alive and working with the man who'd claimed he was Madara? Orochimaru had violently opposed the Akatsuki, but it was possible that Kabuto was a part of this as well?

What was Madara's goal? The destruction of Konoha? Konoha didn't seem to need the help though. The entire Fire Country had been in revolt for more than a month, and the government had all but fallen apart shortly afterword. Even the closest of Konoha's allies like the Sand were keeping to a strictly non-interventionist policy. Bordering countries were eyeing the situation with an interest that even Sasuke could not ignore. It was a miracle military powerhouses like the Rock and Cloud hadn't invaded yet.

More importantly, did Sasuke even care what Madara's plan was? It didn't have to involve him. He was affiliated with no one, could make the choice to stay out of this mess if he wanted to. His family was dead, the people who'd orchestrated their murders were dead, and Orochimaru too. He could go after Madara, but honestly, the prospect of that did nothing for the cold, dead ache inside his stomach. He didn't have to do this anymore. Sasuke could make the choice to not get involved, to let history take its course. The thought of the future, the blank road stretched out in front of him is rather terrifying. To be honest, he'd never thought he'd live through his quest for revenge, but there was always work a ninja could find, especially in an increasingly destabilized world. He could go anywhere, disappear into the vastness of the world and somehow, figure out what to do with his life.

But Naruto doesn't have that choice.

"Stop doing that," he snaps, finally fed up with Naruto's ridiculous pacing. "Do you want to make us more of a spectacle than we already are?"

"Hey, lay off!" Naruto replies angrily, turning towards him abruptly. "I know you don't give a damn about anyone but yourself, but Sakura-chan's really hurt right now! She obviously knew that guy pretty well. And it hasn't been easy lately for her either, Konoha's been a complete mess and her parents still li-"

Sasuke doesn't know why, but it is this that suddenly enrages him and spurs him into action. He stands up straight and puts on his most disdainful expression.

"Speaking of parents," he says as casually as possible, folding his arms across his chest. "What do you think?"

For a second, Naruto's face goes completely blank, something almost like fear creeping into his expression. And then it's gone.

"What?" he frowns, giving Sasuke a confused look. "I was just saying that Sakura's paren-"

"I'm not talking about Sakura's parents," Sasuke says, hating Naruto's fake, _lying_, act. "I'm talking about what Jiraiya said back there. About your father."

Naruto turns away, looking distractedly off towards the village. "He was dying. I...don't think he even knew who I was."

"After we blew up half of Konoha?" Sasuke snorts, taking an aggressive step towards him. "Our pictures were plastered all over the Fire Country. Like hell he didn't know who you were!"

Naruto's shoulders stiffen dangerously, and he clenches his fists. It's so completely obvious, so transparent that Sasuke is almost embarrassed on his behalf.

"And if you really believed that," Sasuke continues unrelentingly. "Why are you still hanging onto his bag?"

"Shut up," Naruto mutters, still refusing to look him.

"Coward," Sasuke snarls, and he feels thrillingly vindicated when Naruto throws the first punch.

"What the fuck do you know?" Naruto shouts as Sasuke dodges, eyes starting to bleed red. The childish confusion has completely disappeared from his face, replaced by barely contained rage. It feels like victory already, and Sasuke can't help the grin that spreads across his face. Naruto can play the idiot as much as he likes, but this, _this_ is real.

A flock of crows are startled by their fight, launching themselves into the air from a nearby tree with fearful squawks, and Sasuke is momentarily distracted by the noise. That, coupled with his bandaged eye, allows Naruto to get into his blind spot and land a brutal uppercut to his stomach, sending him flying into a tree trunk.

"You don't know _shit_," Naruto says furiously as Sasuke springs back to his feet. "And you make it clear that you don't give a fuck about either Sakura-chan or me, so butt out!"

"Is it true, then?" Sasuke asks, ignoring the pang in his gut that is not completely the result of Naruto's fist. "Your father knew the Sannin?"

"I don't _have_ a father, as you know perfectly well!" Naruto says, and for a second Sasuke thinks he might have gone too far. Naruto still looks enraged, but there's something in his face that make Sasuke worry for a second that he might start to _cry_.

"Everyone has a father," Sasuke scoffs, but suddenly his heart's not in it. "Or do I need to explain to you the facts of life?"

"Oh, you know exactly what I mean!" Naruto responds angrily, stalking towards him so that they're less than four inches apart. "Why do you think I ended up a jinchuuriki? They picked someone whose parents weren't in the picture-"

"And how do you know that?" Sasuke bites out, suddenly angry at Naruto's illogical denial.

"Who would let someone _do this_ to their kid?!" Naruto shouts, and Sasuke's chest goes tight and cold at the desperate quality of his voice.

"What kind of _father_," Naruto snarls, shaking violently now, "or mother, would let someone take their kid and...and..."

His voice breaks, and he closes his eyes, screwing up his face against tears. Heedless of the scene they're already making, Sasuke drags him by the collar of his orange t-shirt and presses their foreheads together, cupping Naruto's cheeks with his hands.

"Fuck, no," Naruto grits out, trying to jerk out of his hands. "Get off, Sasuke, get off!"

"No one told you," Sasuke whispers, trying to keep his voice level, removed from the anger building up in his chest. "All that time in Konoha, no one ever told you anything about your parents? Their names? What happened to them?"

"No, why would they..." Naruto chokes, gripping Sasuke's shoulders now, eyes still closed. "I just...I'd always assumed..."

He doesn't finish the sentence, but Sasuke gets it and it makes him want to blow up Konoha all over again. No one had told him anything, so why _wouldn't _he assume that he'd been abandoned. But apparently the legendary Sannin Jiraiya had known his father, which probably meant his father had been a ninja. And an important one, if Jiraiya had known him well enough to know that Naruto was his son. Which means...Sasuke doesn't know what that means.

"You never said," Sasuke says, after a beat.

Naruto lets out a cynical snort. It doesn't suit him.

"Not all of us are stuck in the past, Sasuke," he says hatefully, opening his eyes and jerking out of Sasuke's grasp.

Sasuke's chest goes cold and he doesn't move for a second, simply standing there with his arms still held adjacent to his body.

"_What _did you say?" Sasuke says, voice low with suppressed rage, dropping his arms down to his sides.

"You heard me," Naruto snarls, shoulders tensing, face suddenly cold and disdainful. "I'm not like you. I'm not going to waste my life regretting things I can't change. I'm going forward. I can't afford to look back."

"You have _no_ idea what you're talking about," Sasuke says furiously, hands itching to wrap themselves around Naruto's tan throat. "At least I'm not a fucking _liar_."

For a second, Naruto looks genuinely confused. Then he frowns.

"What did you call me?"

"You're a liar," Sasuke repeats focusing his anger through his words instead of fists. "You're a _fake_.You might have Sakura fooled with your ridiculous act, but you can't fool me. You hate Konoha as much as I do; you're just less honest about it."

"What the he-"

"Don't give me pathetic excuses! I don't know where you get off pretending to be an idiot, always putting on a happy face when you've spent most of your life so miserably lonel-"

"Fuck you!"

"-y that you're desperate enough to stay with Sakura and I even after you got _tortured_ by the same country that threw you out eight year-"

He expects the punch, but doesn't make any effort to dodge it. Naruto's fist collides with his jaw with less force than he imagined, but Sasuke still tastes dirt, scrapping his shoulder on a tree root.

"You don't know _anything_," Naruto says, voice shaking badly.

Sasuke spits out blood and dirt and gets to his feet, anger and empathy and desire thrumming throughout his body like a drug.

"Or maybe," he continues, wiping his mouth and smirking the way he knows Naruto's always hated, even when they were kids. "Maybe it's your fucked up coping device, the only thing that keeps you from falling apart and-"

"-and turning out like you?" Naruto finished and then shoves him against the trunk of a nearby tree. They grapple, Sasuke trying to punch Naruto in the face and get away, but Naruto grabs his arms in a vice-like grip before he can get the leverage.

"Because the thing is, Sasuke," Naruto snarls, holding him against the tree trunk with strength that Sasuke hates as much as he is turned on by. "I'm _not_ like you. I did the whole hating the world and everything in it bit while you and Sakura-chan were still playing with _paper shuriken_. I am so, _so_ done with that now."

There is something about the dead seriousness of his face, the almost hollow look in his eyes, the steadiness of his voice that makes shivers crawl up Sasuke's spine. It's not a pleasant feeling. It makes him want to squirm away like a child, to put as much distance between this...this _wrong_ Naruto as possible.

"You and Sakura-chan, you're so _drowning _in your own pain that you can't even see anything at all," Naruto continues coldly, fingers biting into his wrists like knives. "You've lost sight of the big picture, and _that's _why you honestly don't give a fuck anymore."

"You _dare_-" Sasuke snarls, wanting to rip that patronizing look off Naruto's face with his bare hands.

"But I haven't," Naruto talks over him stubbornly, breath warming the side of Sasuke's face as he speeds up his words. "I care about this world and the people in it. I care about people I don't even know. I don't _want_ Konoha to suffer. I don't _want_ to kill anyone. I want to be able to protect my friends. I don't want to be sad or lonely anymore."

He lets go of Sasuke's wrists suddenly and takes a step back.

"Don't you?" he asks tentatively.

The cold, determined expression has dropped off his face to be replaced by something far more vulnerable. It sends something curling through Sasuke's stomach even in his anger.

"You're so fucking naïve," he spits, shoving himself off the tree, voice dripping with contempt. "What, you want the whole world to be sunshine and flowers, is that it?" He gives Naruto a disgusted look-what was he thinking, did he actually _sleep_ with this man? "No war? World peace?"

"Yeah," Naruto says simply, eyes honest and...and something else. Something warm, an expression that Sasuke has never seen someone wear before.

Naruto looks away and the moment is broken.

"I'm going to find Sakura-chan. We probably shouldn't stay here much longer," he says casually, wiping his hands on his t-shirt, not looking at Sasuke. He turns towards the village, back straight, head held high.

He takes Jiraiya's still-unopened bag with him.

But Sasuke isn't paying attention to any of that, too lost in the quick beat of his heart and the growing horror in the pit of his stomach that says, quite distinctly, that he is in a lot of trouble.

"No," Sasuke says to himself softly staring blankly at an indeterminate place on the forest floor. "_No_, this is _not_ happening. Not...him. Not _him. _This is not...it can't be happening..."

But clearly it is.

* * *

Naruto finds Sakura-chan sitting alone against the side of the makeshift hospital that her friend-Shizune?-was working at. She looks awful, pale complexion only seeming to highlight the gruesome scars on her face. There are a couple of kids kicking around a ball across from her and they scatter when they see Naruto coming. He wonders if it's true, that they all recognize him. He'd have thought someone would make more of a fuss, but maybe the fall of the central government makes it hard for anyone to care about a couple fugitives.

He sits down next to Sakura-chan and puts his hand on her shoulder.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asks, even though part of him cringes at the uselessness of his words.

Sakura-chan is watching the kids run away and does not reply for a beat.

"This place is a mess, Naruto," she says, and he blinks at the non sequitur.

It's not like he hasn't noticed the malnourished, half-starved look of the villagers, the way the adults sit in the street with nothing to do, with deadened eyes and ill-fitting clothing. But his priority at the moment is Sakura-chan, and he knows a tangent when he sees one.

"Yeah," he says in acknowledgment and tightens his grip on her shoulder. "Sakura-chan, are you-"

"The trade routes have been cut off," Sakura-chan continues as if he hadn't spoken, staring dully at the road ahead of her. "They haven't got a shipment of rice in _weeks_."

"What do you mean, cut off?" Naruto asks, momentarily distracted from his worry for her. "By who?"

Sakura-chan lets out a cold laugh that sounds disturbing similar to Sasuke's.

"Does it matter?" she says, shrugging her shoulders. "On purpose or on accident, by the rebels or by the government, the result is the same. These people are starving."

Naruto looks up and down the dusty road, at the thatched huts, and idle adults with hollow faces and children with swollen bellies.

_"Who cares_?_"_ part of him thinks. _"What about _you_?!"_

This, too, sounds uncomfortably like Sasuke.

"Shizune-san's been here, trying to help, but there's nothing she can do if they have no food," Sakura-chan says, dropping her head in her hands. But Naruto knows she's not upset about that, not really, and he kind of feels bad for the people here who _are _starving, because he knows that at this moment, Sakura-chan truly does not care. All of her grief is for that man named Jiraiya, and the Fifth Hokage.

"If there was just someway they could get-"

"Sakura-chan," Naruto says seriously, gently tilting up her tear-stained face with his thumb. "I have to go."

He says it without any forethought, but even as the words leave his mouth, he knows they're right. He'd thought...he'd thought he could make it work. That'd it be like old times, Team Seven together again, but...

But in reality, it was starting to be more like Gaara and Yugito. Naruto's not sure he can do it anymore, not even for his old friends. He'd tried to change Gaara and Yugito and Tsuyu, but...

But it hadn't worked. Not really. And as much as he wants to believe that that stunned look on Sasuke's face meant he'd understand what Naruto tried to tell him, that Sakura-chan truly cared for these people... He can't. Naruto's been through too much to ever be that naïve again, even if he can put on a brilliant act. Even if he wishes sometimes that he was just a blind idiot.

And, anyway, Naruto's got a job to do.

Sakura-chan's eyes widen in horror, but Naruto cuts her off before she can speak.

"It's something I've been putting off for a while," he says gently, giving her a hesitant smile. "But before I go, I need to know if you're okay-if you're going to be okay."

Emotions flit across Sakura-chan's face so quickly that it almost makes Naruto dizzy. Confusion, hurt, sadness, before finally settling on anger.

"I'll be back," Naruto says quickly, even though he knows he shouldn't. One day he fears the bitter people he's surrounded himself with will finally manage to drag him down with them, but he won't give up on his old team yet. He should, he should, he should, but he cannot help the desire to protect them, to coax Sakura-chan out of her cold, melancholy shell, to tease a blush out of Sasuke and kiss him until the ever-present tenseness of his body fades.

"I just...there's something I have to do," he finishes lamely.

"What?" she hisses, standing furiously. "What is it that's _so important _that you'll leave us at a time like this?!"

_"I need a break from how sad you are all the time_," Naruto thinks distantly. _"How you never even try to move on, but wallow in the past and things you can't change instead_."

He can't say it to Sakura-chan though. Sasuke is different, he had to hear it. And he's always been able to take whatever Naruto's thrown at him. But Sakura-chan, especially the way she is now...Naruto thinks she might break.

"There's an island, in the Lightening Country," Naruto responds truthfully, standing as well. "There's a temple...if I go there, I can learn how to control the Kyuubi."

Sakura-chan's eyes widen. "You-" she starts, looking thunderstruck. "Why didn't you do this before?!"

"I didn't know where it was," he says and then sighs exasperatedly. "You see, Tsuyu thinks I have a _self-control_ problem- no idea what she's smoking- so she got some dumb idea into her head that I wasn't _ready_ or some shit like that. But you know me- persistent as ever!"

He grins and puffs out his chest. "Got her in the end!"

Sakura-chan had been unconscious, Naruto standing in front of her protectively, when Tsuyu had finally told him. Her eyes had been sad, shining gold in the light of the setting sun behind him, and Naruto had never heard her voice break like that before.

"So," Naruto clears his throat when Sakura-chan doesn't respond, she stares blankly at him. "What are you going to do?"

She doesn't answer until the next morning when they're all seated around the hearth of the small hut Sakura's friend had managed to find them for the night, sipping buckwheat tea to stave off the hunger pains. Naruto is pretending the occupants of the house are on vacation, four pairs of shoes still on the shoe rack in the vestibule. Sasuke has alternated between ignoring his existence and glaring at him with his good eye furiously. He hadn't taken the whole "conquering your inner demons-except literally" idea with much enthusiasm.

"I know what I want to do," Sakura-chan says suddenly, just as Naruto attempts to make some sort of small talk about the weather.

Sasuke frowns and looks at her expectantly over his cup, still managing to seem aloof and unaffected even with the bandages over his left eye.

"I want to go back to Konoha," Sakura-chan says, her pale face highlighted by the fire from the hearth in the dim room and, for a second, the heat obscures her features and a skull is grinning back at him instead.

**A/N: Well, this was a lot more depressing than I thought it was going to be. I honestly did not plan for all the depressing things EVER to be in this chapter. I blame the recent chapters of the manga. Why must they mess up all my plans? Obito, dude, what are you doing? I **_**liked**_** you and now I find out that you pretty much killed your former teacher, AND his wife! Whyyyy?...**

** Okay, done with that. Also, I'm back! It's only been, you know, nine months or something. This story WILL be finished! I will carry on!**

** Many thanks to my awesome beta, Sleeping Soundly, who continues to read this fic even though she isn't even in the Naruto fandom anymore! And don't forget to review!**


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